Halloween night came and went. Shannon and a colleague of hers had ended up going to work as containers of red and blue Play-Doh. Jethro was home by a decent hour, so he and Shannon ordered in some pizza, handed out candy to the trick or treaters, and watched a couple of horror movies together on the couch.

Tobias stopped by with Emily - clad in a Luna Lovegood costume - for some candy for her and a little visit which was nice. The pre-teen was excited about her costume and had zero qualms about rambling off an explanation as to why the Luna character was awesome.

Shannon had closed her eyes halfway through the last movie they'd put on. He smiled, feeling Shannon's breathing even out, knowing that she had fallen asleep. Jethro lay, running his fingertips along her back slowly, and he soon fell asleep himself. All in all, a really pleasant night in the Gibbs house.

The next day, things got interesting. A twenty-six-year-old man was gunned down in a red Ferrari. They'd quickly identified the victim as Petty Officer Colin Boxer - presently stationed at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling with an undistinguished record. The guy was found in a sports car that he clearly couldn't afford on his Navy salary. At E-6 pay, the petty officer was far from rolling in money.

The killer had left the murder weapon behind; evidently a novice. It was quickly traced back to a pawn shop in Maryland by Abby. Additionally, McGee managed to identify the actual owner of the sports car. It was owned by a California company; VCX File Share. It was for the personal use of the CEO, Vijay Chaya, when the twenty-seven-year-old billionaire dot-commer was in town.

Deciding to follow up on Abby's lead, Jethro and DiNozzo checked a black sedan out of the motor pole and headed out to Bethesda to pay a visit to the pawnshop. At the very least, it would likely give them a starting point.

The owner of the pawnshop, Rita Gregg, was more than willing to help them once they told her why they were there. "Yeah, I sold a .22 like this to a young woman a couple weeks ago." Her eyes narrowed slightly. "Uh, there wasn't anything on the grip."

DiNozzo held out a small piece of paper for her. "Here's the serial number."

"Yeah," Rita commented as she took the slip of paper, "you can't be too careful in this business. I keep meticulous records. Be right back."

As Rita headed back to her office, his Senior Field Agent started getting up to his usual antics and playing a guitar he'd found. "The flying V." The Italian-American adopted an inquisitive look upon realizing Jethro was eyeing something. "What is that?"

"This is a Shopsmith 10-E.R," he explained with a grin. I want to get this.

"Of course it is!" DiNozzo stated, completely unsurprised that Jethro easily recognized the tool. The man leaned in to check the tool out and was clearly a bit shocked by the price of it. $259. "Wow. She should be wearing a mask charging that much for it."

"No," he countered without missing a beat. The Shopsmith a table saw, a lathe, a drill press, a disc sander and a horizontal boring machine into a single reasonably sized tool. "No, man. This is a workhorse. Worth every penny."

Their conversation was irrupted by the pawnshop owner's return.

"Girl's name is Kim Taylor," Rita informed the two NCIS agents matter-of-factly. "Here's my copy of the application I filed with the state."

Jethro took the document from her as DiNozzo had the guitar from earlier in his hand. Rita eyed the Italian-American in clear disapproval of his antics.

"Sorry," DiNozzo said sheepishly before putting the guitar back.

"Why is the weapon still registered to the pawnshop?" he questioned.

Rita shot Jethro a pointed look. "Let me explain Maryland bureaucracy to you, Special Agent Gibbs. Someone wants a gun, they fill out an application, which I file with the Secretary of State Police. After seven working days, if I don't hear back from them... which I usually don't..." Yeah, I can believe that. "… then I'm allowed by law to deliver the weapon to the purchaser. Paperwork catches up eventually."

Something had clearly caught his Senior Field Agent's attention. "Excuse me. Is this a real Congressional Medal of Honour?"

"You bet," Rita replied happily. She started making her over to where the younger man was standing, Jethro following close behind her.

"How much is one of these?" DiNozzo asked.

Rita shook her head slightly. "Oh, it's not for sale."

"No," he added as took a good look at the medal. "You can't sell a Congressional Medal of Honour. It's against the law." He turned back to Rita. "Where'd you get it?"

"Some old guy brought it in," she exclaimed. "Said he needed money."

"Was it his?" Jethro inquired. He was honestly really moved. He had a pretty good idea of what went into earning the medal, the level of sacrifice, and for a war hero to be in a position where he was that desperate for money… well, that was sobering.

"Yeah," she informed him. "World War Two vet." Just like my father. "I tried to explain that it was illegal for him to sell it, but, oh, hell, he was a hero. Seemed desperate. I felt sorry for him, so, I loaned him $3, 000."

"Think you're ever gonna see that money again?" DiNozzo asked.

Rita waved the comment off with an almost reverent smile. Jethro wouldn't have been surprised to learn that she was a Military brat or was close to someone who'd served. "Ah, doesn't matter. Chance to hold that medal in my hands... the highest honour our country can bestow on a hero... that was payment enough."

DiNozzo looked down at the records for the medal and chuckle and he read the name aloud. "Leroy Jethro Moore?" Jethro's was taken aback. "What are the odds?"

He glanced at the paper. His suspicions were confirmed. Corporal Leroy Jethro Moore. "That's my dad's best friend," he said softly. "I was named after him." The man was on Iwo Jima. Montford Point Marine. The guy crossed an open field under heavy Japanese fire to rescue three wounded members of his platoon. His namesake did it despite the fact that he had been hit several times. Unfortunately, Jethro hadn't seen LJ since his sophomore year of high school. Not long after his mother Ann's passing.

DiNozzo was stunned. "You're kidding."

Jethro eyed Rita, not hiding his concern. "Did he say… why he needed the money?"

She shook her head a bit sadly. "No."

Thursday was already looking to shape out to be a very, very long day. He and his father definitely had a tough conversation coming up in the extremely near future. Hopefully, he would be able to get his old man to actually talk.