Jethro knew that his wife had gone out with Stacy and a mutual friend of theirs after work, so he stopped at Elaine's Diner for a coffee, sat at the long counter, and then read the newspaper for a while. It had been an interesting couple of days and Jethro needed the reprieve. He was just glad that they had been able to close both the hot and cold cases that they'd caught.

It had been quite an interesting day. Jethro's team had tracked down another buyer the night before, admittedly expecting a terrorist or someone of that Sort. Instead, the agents found an elderly rock star inside. The rock star refused to cooperate at all until Ducky, who was leading the interrogation with Jethro there as support, started to sing one of the man's songs. Ostensibly, all Del Finney did was buy a piece of moon rock.

McGee then recalled a high-profile incident from twelve years prior where moon rock was stolen from NASA, but it had been silently recovered a couple of years later. Hill had been using the aforementioned incident to run a con and sell a bunch of simulated moon rock and pass it off as the real deal!

The pieces of the puzzle then all fell into place. Roberts was a space buff, and bought some of the simulated moon rock from Hill, only to realize it was a con. Roberts could have reported Hill, so Hill had to kill the man.

There was only one question remaining. Who killed Hill?

Abby suggested that it could have been a disgruntled buyer, but Jethro recalled that the rock star got the 'moon rock' verified by someone from NASA.

"Okay," Abby said with a look of smugness mixed with disbelief, "there is no way that anyone at NASA mistook that knockoff for a lunar meteorite."

Jethro gave a little hum. "Who was running the lab twelve years ago?"

Apparently, that someone just happened to be the expert that DiNozzo and Ziva spoke to the day before. It was looking like Dr. Blackwell was in on the scam all along.

"Next time," Dr. Blackwell said as the man walked in, "I'm gonna play you blindfolded. I'd like to see you win every once in a while." The man then realized that he wasn't alone. "Agent DiNozzo... and, uh...?"

"Special Agent Gibbs," he offered. "I've heard a lot about you."

"Did you Keyser Soze us?" DiNozzo stated in disbelief. "Can't believe I fell for that" The Italian-American agent shook a pen he was holding. "I'm gonna keep this Hubble pen."

Jethro pulled out a photo. "You know this guy?"

Dr. Blackwell eyed him. "I already told your agents I didn't."

"I remember," DiNozzo stated without even missing a beat. "The funny thing is... when we looked into the NASA rock verification lab that you used to run -" DiNozzo gestured to the photograph. "- this guy Hill was doing protective services in the building."

"Are you sure you two have never met?" he pressed.

"You know what?" Dr. Blackwell commented, knowing full well that he was done. "I'm not gonna say another word until I talk to my lawyer."

That little comment by doctor death didn't exactly surprise either field agent.

"Quod erat demonstrandum," Ducky stated, deleting all the case files from the plasma. "Case closed." The medical examiner turned around, grinning. "La fin de l'affaire."

Ziva smiled at him. "Très bien, Ducky."

McGee gave Ducky a smile of his own. "Bravo, Ducky. You're a natural."

"Ah," Ducky said. "Well, I-I must admit that the... the role does appear to suit me, but I can't... I can't help thinking that there's something I'm forgetting."

Ziva gestured over towards where Jethro and his Senior Field Agent were both walking up with Commander Roberts' daughter Ellen. "It has not forgotten you. Remember the promise you made."

Ellen walked with purpose up to Ducky. "Thank you."

"You are profoundly welcome," Ducky assured her.

"Hey, Duck. Fun's over." He gave the slightly older man a gentle yet also pointed look. "Need to get ya out of the bullpen now. You're needed elsewhere."

"Now?" Ducky asked. "I thought I might assist with the paperwork."

"No," he said. "McGee can take care of that. Only place you're going is Autopsy."

"Back to...?" Ducky questioned.

He decided to spell it out. "You're cleared for duty, Duck."

"Oh!" Ducky said as the information finally registered. "Oh. How wonder... ful. Back to, uh... Okay." The medical examiner passed him the remote to the plasma screen. "Oh, I suppose, uh, I'll just be going back to Autopsy."

Jethro, Ziva, and McGee all watched as the lead medical examiner made his way out of the squad room and towards the elevator.

The young Israeli grinned. "We are finally whole again."

"Is Ducky gonna be okay, Boss?" McGee asked.

Jethro dipped his head slightly. Ducky's internal struggle to find his place amongst the team and prove his self-worth was evident, but his long-time friend was already acting more and more like himself again. "He'll be just fine, Tim."

They worked for another couple of hours, writing and finishing their reports before the MCRT team called it a day and headed home. Well, in Jethro's case, headed to Elaine's Diner for a hot cup of joe.

The owner and waitress walked up. "Want me to freshen that, Gibbs?"

He gave a happy little hum. "That'd be great, Elaine."

"Yo!" a man seated in one of the booths called out. "Anytime today will be fine."

Elaine was politer than he would've been. "Be right there."

"Yeah," the man scoffed.

Elaine turned back to him. "Crazy day. Wasn't able to get Darlene's shift covered." The other waitress had called in sick that morning. "I'll be right back."

"No rush," he assured her. "Take your time."

She made her way over to the young man who was still being more than a bit snarky. "Ah, so your vacation's over?"

The waitress quickly apologized. "Sorry it took so long."

Two cups of black coffee later, he got a text from his wife and headed home in earnest, pulling into his driveway at 1830. He grinned when he saw Kelly get out of her car and move to take his granddaughter out of her car seat.

"Hey, Dad!" Kelly called out.

"Hey!" he replied happily as he walked straight over to where they were. "How are two of my favourite girls doin'?"

"We're good," his daughter replied happily. Kelly shifted Paisley, the little girl fussing a bit. "This one here got a few shots today."

"Ah," he replied, making a face at his granddaughter. "Is somebody a little bit cranky?" As intended, the face made Paisley giggle.

Kelly gave a little snort. "Just a smidge. She did awesome, though."

He held both of his arms out, taking the nine-month-old girl who proceeded to rapidly snuggle contentedly into his chest.

His daughter raised an eyebrow, a glint of amusement in both her eyes. "Surprise, she loves her pappy. Not like you or Mom spoil her or anything."

He smirked. "Perks of being the grandparents." He tickled Paisley's feet, causing her to giggle anew. "Ain't that right, Miss P?"

His daughter shook her head, chuckling. "So you keep saying. Mom home?"

"Should be here any minute," Jethro replied, shifting his granddaughter slightly so that he could get a better look at his watch. "Went out for coffee with a couple of friends."

She nodded. "Fun. You two up for company? Mike's working late tonight."

"You know we always love having ya here." He then titled his head towards his house in a small gesture. "Let's go in." As they started making their way over to the front door, Jethro glanced at his daughter. "So, what did you get up to today?"

"Not a whole lot," she said. "Took today off." He opened the door for her. "I -"

The conversation continued in that vein while Jethro handed Paisley back to her mom and went to grab the both of them a drink. Joining his daughter in the living room and watching as she played and interacted with her own child, Jethro's heart was bursting with pride. It did still sting that he'd missed a lot of her childhood, but he was so damn proud of the woman that she'd become.