Jethro woke up a little after 0600 that following morning. He showered, got dressed, and then called his wife back home in Arlington, chatting with Shannon for a bit while Ziva went to the twenty-four-hour fitness centre. She'd gone there in lieu of the usual daily run that became a habit ever since her move to Washington.

Once she got back and showered, she and Jethro finally headed down to the chow hall for breakfast. Over-easy eggs, hash browns, toast, bacon and a fresh cup of coffee on the side was far from the worst way to start a morning in his books. It wasn't Elaine's coffee, but it was still quite good.

Once they'd both eaten, it was time to get down to work. They were still very much on the clock. Unfortunately, the call back to Washington didn't bear much fruit. Abby was still sifting through the mounds of intel that she'd been sent with McGee. The forensic scientist did manage to figure out, however, where and how the terrorist cell that they were after had managed to get their hands on anthrax.

Apparently, a well-established Dutch biotech firm had recently reported that they may have had a security breach involving anthrax the week before. They were still doing a security and inventory sweep, but they may have been missing up to twenty grams of lab-grade anthrax. Not exactly comforting, but it was something.

Tobias and DiNozzo had decided to take agents back to the site of the explosion to do a sweep of the building and see if they could find any useful evidence that had made it through somehow. They had yet to come up with anything though.

After he touched base with his team back in D.C, Jethro glanced down at his watch. It was only 0930. Deciding he still had some time, Jethro headed to Windjammer Café on base to get some coffee before speaking with El-Sayed again.

He closed the cell behind him and turned to the detainee. "As-salamu Alaikum."

El-Sayed gave him a small smile. "Wa-Alaikum-Salaam."

He returned the smile. "Sleep well?"

"For the first time since I've been here," the man replied.

He dipped his head slightly. "Good."

"Until yesterday," El-Sayed commented, "I was not permitted regular prayer."

"We receive comfort from our prayers," he said.

The man eyed him curiously. "We?"

"Human beings," he said. El-Sayed's expression shifted. "I say something wrong?"

The detainee looked over at Jethro as though it was something that should be obvious. "You placed us on the same level."

He tilted his head slightly. "Aren't we?"

The man looked incredulous. "Well, here... I am thought of as less than human."

He mirrored El-Sayed's expression. "And in your Jihad, I am."

"Gibbs." The man started walking up to him. "What do you really want from me?"

"I already told you," he said. "I just wanna understand ya."

"And if that is not possible?" the man questioned.

"Then that would be my loss," Jethro stated matter-of-factly. "It's almost time for your midday prayers. I would like to talk again later?"

"I look forward to it," the man agreed.

"Thank you," he said as he turned and headed for the door.

Meeting up with Ziva and Murdock again, their conversation was quickly interrupted by a phone call from DiNozzo back in Washington.

Abby had finally received the Dutch terror watch list as requested and she and McGee had rummaged through it in an attempt to find a target. The forensic scientist had got a hit. An address. Tobias and Dinozzo took a field team to the address.

With nothing more they could do than wait, he and Ziva grabbed some coffee before heading to the fitness centre to work off some frustration.

Eventually, lunchtime rolled around and they both headed to the chow hall to grab a bit to eat.

Not long after finishing lunch, he and Ziva got another update from their people back in Washington. After a soft entry, the team found five dead bodies and a crude lab. It appeared that everything had been put in four backpacks and then taken off-site. The group was evidently on the move.

Jethro shared a look with Ziva. We're already too late.

He wracked his brain in an attempt to figure out the best move to make. Jethro then brought Ziva in to meet with El-Sayed, who was now making jokes. Ziva told the man what they knew about him and those the man had come to the U.S to recruit. Jethro, not actually expecting it to work, tried to implore El-Sayed to talk, but found himself interrupted by a phone call.

Jethro feigned horror before gesturing for Ziva to follow him out of the cell. A moment later, Jethro opened the cell door again to allow El-Sayed to see the televised 'breaking news' report of a terrorist attack.

"Something has happened?" El-Sayed asked.

"You bastard!" he exclaimed. "You choose to contort Islam into an excuse for a life of violence. A billion Muslims. One billion Muslims practice their faith in peace... But you… You have perverted your faith to justify murder."

The man looked pleased. "Now we are finally chatting, Gibbs."

"You accuse Americans of being puppeteers of the third world," Jethro stated, "yet you used your own people's faith tonight to make them dance for you. Why?"

"Does your president go into battle? Or does he send your children?"

He eyed the man. "Tonight... All those innocent people."

"There is no such thing, Gibbs!" El-Sayed immediately countered. "They were infidels. They were engaged in activities that spread American policies over the entire world. Your incessant need to own things, material things. Your capitalism rests on the back of third-world countries. No one's hands are clean. No one is innocent."

"Those people tonight," he retorted, "they were innocent. They never hurt you."

"They hurt me by existing!" El-Sayed snapped. "Yes, the infidels shall fall at the hands of the righteous. And that is when the Jihad will end."

"So you are ready to murder four billion people," he scoffed.

"America has learned nothing from the past," the man replied. "You harden targets like your power plants, but you leave the soft root for our taking. What has happened here tonight will affect your economy for years, the way September 11th affected air travel. And maybe the next time there's a grand opening at a giant shopping centre, people will think twice before going." They're attacking a shopping centre. "And maybe next it will be a school." Jethro started making his way out of the cell. "Hey!"

Murdock was speaking to one of the CIA operatives who had provided them with some assistance. "You can shut the video feed down now, Officer Teague. Thanks."

A look of realization dawned on El-Sayed's face. "Has the sun not set yet?"

"No," he stated. "I've been moving your prayer times back since I got here."

The detainee played with his face, clearly upset, and hit the cell's concrete wall. Jethro couldn't manage much sympathy for the son of a bitch. He was a piece of work. Jethro was just glad that the gambit worked. Maybe, just maybe, they could get there in time to stop the impending attack.

"A shopping centre," he said over the phone. "A mall. It's a grand opening tonight not long after sunset." He checked the time. "That gives you about an hour."

"Abby thinks she found the location," McGee replied.

"The grand opening of the Tysons Corner expansion," the goth chimed in. "The place is gonna be packed and it's right smack in the middle of McLean, Virginia."

"Get there!" he snapped.

"We've got it, Gibbs!" the man replied. "Let's get moving, DiNozzo."

"Just waiting on you, Fornell!" DiNozzo quipped. "Andiamo."

He could feel the eye roll from Tobias as the man replied. "Sapientone."

Ending the call, the field agents stateside made the just under half-hour drive to Tysons Corner Centre. Hopefully, it was the right location.

With nothing more they could do at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base except wait, the pair made plans for transportation back to the U.S for the following morning and headed to the fitness centre to work off some of their frustration.

Eventually, 1700 rolled around and the pair made their way to the chow hall. They still hadn't heard anything from the team stateside but neither one of them were strangers to tense situations either and, despite the tension, forced themselves to eat. He got a burger and hit the salad bar, grabbing himself a coffee.

He took a sip of his coffee and then placed it down on the table before eying Ziva. This was a conversation that Jethro'd been meaning to have but kept putting off. "So, when I called you in the other day I could hear Tony in the background."

"About that…" Ziva said a bit sheepishly.

Jethro waved her concern off. "I'd suspected that you two had feelings for each other for a while now, Ziver. As long as it doesn't interfere with your work…"

"It won't," she assured him. "But what about Rule #12?" Never date a co-worker.

Jethro sighed and eyed the brunette. "Ziver, I'm not fond of office romances in our line of work for a variety of reasons." She nodded. "But pretending that the feelings aren't there isn't going to make 'em go away. If you two both want this then just keep it out of the office." He smirked. "And, honestly, kid… it's about damn time."

Ziva laughed. "What?"

"We've all been wondering when one of ya was gonna actually make a move," he said. "Let's just say it was NCIS' worst kept secret."

Ziva threw her head in her hands, chuckling. "Oh, God. And here I thought I was doing well at covering it up."

He raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Yeah, Sophie Ranier, real subtle. We never could convince FBI agents Yussif and Maya that you two weren't actually together." He then leaned forward slightly and smiled. "If it makes you feel better, I've been there. Jen."

She nodded. "Yeah, that was kind of obvious."

He shook his head, amused. "Yeah, but we didn't realize that at first either."

God, this had turned out to be one very weird week indeed.