The MCRT headed back to NCIS and Jethro headed upstairs to fill the director in on the situation and attend a meeting regarding several recent threat assessments that had come out. In the meantime, Jethro's team started looking into Diane's boy-toy and anyone connected with the man.

When he got off the elevator at the squad room, however, Jethro was slightly caught off guard by who else was there. Why is he here?

He eyed his long-time friend as he walked over to his desk and started taking his black overcoat off. There wasn't much snow on the ground at the moment but it was starting to get more than a little chilly. "Tobias."

The FBI agent turned to him. "Hey."

He hung the jacket down on the back of his chair. "What are you doing here?"

"Just thought you might need some help," Tobias said, not entirely honestly if Jethro knew his friend. He figured Tobias was jealous. "Diane's really worried, I just want to put her mind at ease."

"Yeah," he said with an amused, knowing look. "Uh-huh."

"You shot me in the caboose," Tobias pointed out. "You owe me."

"Alright," he said as he turned to his team. "What do we got?"

McGee pulled up a photo on the plasma screen as Jethro's SFA started to speak. "Meet Eddie Macklin," DiNozzo said. "Diane Sterling's boyfriend."

"Ex-boyfriend," Tobias countered.

"He is thirty-one years old and currently works at a climbing gym in Alexandria," Ziva chimed in. "Climbing Gravity. Unfortunately, that's all we were able to find. We couldn't find anything at all on the man prior to six months ago."

McGee now chimed in. "No parking ticket, library card, or bus pass."

"Interesting," Tobias said while shooting Jethro a pointed look. "Let's go ask him about it." The FBI agent didn't even give him time to respond before storming off.

Knowing that he wasn't going to win this fight and they did need to speak to the man, Jethro just rolled his eyes and followed the man out of the building. He did find it odd that there was so little information on the man though. It was quite difficult to live and not leave some sort of paper trail.

It didn't take them long at all to get down to Eddie's place of work and, at first glance, the owner of the gym, one Elijah Banner, was quite cooperative. "Yeah, I know him. He came in about six months ago, looking for a job. He teaches our Basic Climb class."

Tobias spotted the poster a couple of feet away with the suspect's picture on it. "Woah, his chest is bigger than Diane's."

Jethro decided not to comment and just focus on the job. "You know where he is?"

"No," the African-American man stated. "And he actually blew off a private lesson this morning. But I don't think Eddie was a big fan of the student."

Tobias pulled a photo out of the file he was holding and passed it to the gym owner to look at. "How about this guy? You know him?"

"Yeah," the man said, "that's him. That's Eddie's student. Geez, what happened?"

"Corporal Flegman was shot," he explained. "We found Eddie's cell phone on him."

"We'd like to talk to him about it," Tobias added. "Among other things."

"I knew Eddie was trouble," the man said. "Just something off about him."

"You know where we can find him?"

"I don't know," the man replied. "His apartment?"

He shook his head. "Uh, it's empty. No car registration with the DMV."

"That's weird," the gym owner replied. "He has a car. I got the info on his employment
application. Let me get it."

Jethro and Tobias shared a look as Elijah made his way to the back office to grab the aforementioned paperwork for them. Sometimes, helpful was too helpful.

They only had to wait a few minutes before the man returned and Jethro pulled out his notepad and started writing down all the information they needed. He and Tobias then headed out and started the twenty-minute drive to Arlington and Jethro called his SFA. "Yeah, suspect's vehicle is an '88 silver Lincoln Town Car. It's a D.C plate. Have McGee put a BOLO out."

"Grab a bite?" Tobias asked as they came to a stop in front of his house. As it stood, Shannon was out with Stacy, Connie, and another friend so both men were free.

"I'm good," he said.

"Beer?" Tobias suggested.

Jethro honestly didn't want to discuss the whole Diane situation with Tobias which he had managed to avoid so far. "Long day, Tobias."

Opening the door, he stepped out.

Tobias' voice came from behind him. "What the hell am I doing, Gibbs?"

Sighing, Jethro took a seat. Evidently, he was having this conversation no matter how much he didn't want to.

His friend eyed him. "I feel like I've been swallowed by a python, cut my way out and then crawled back inside again."

"Sounds about right," he said.

"Oh, come on." The man's expression shifted slightly. "Are we making a mistake?"

"Depends," he said.

Tobias eyed him quizzically. "On what?"

"What are you looking for?" he asked.

His friend eyes him. "Not just sex, if that's what you're getting at."

Jethro immediately regretted asking. "Woah, woah."

"Well," Tobias said, "don't get me wrong, -"

"No," he interrupted.

Tobias continues unperturbed. "- it's better than -"

"Stop," he said. "Just stop."

"I'm just saying that there's something different this time," Tobias explained. "Maybe because we're exes. Was it like that with Shannon after not seeing each other for all those years?"

He swallowed awkwardly. He wasn't about to talk about his and Shannon's sex life with Tobias no matter how close they were. "Can I go home now?" he asked while opening the passenger door again.

"You are the worse advice-giver I've ever met!" Tobias stated in exasperation. "Don't quit your day job."

He closed the passenger door and awkwardly wracked his brain for an answer. He had no doubt his discomfort showed on his face. "I think... as long as you're happy, that's all that matters."

"Happy?" Tobias repeated in disbelief.

He nodded wordlessly.

"What's that got to do with anything?" Tobias demanded.

He threw his hands up, not knowing what else to say. He really didn't want to get into this with his friend. He really didn't.

Before that lovely little conversation could continue, Jethro was metaphorically saved by the bell. Tobias' cell phone started to ring. The man glanced at the call display. "It's my neighbour. She watches Emily." Tobias answered the call. "What'd she do now? No, I'll go." The man hung up and shoved his cellphone back into his pocket before turning to Jethro. "She didn't come home for dinner again. Third time this week. I've got to go prowl the mall looking for her."

Jethro privately thought that he understood why the thirteen-year-old girl didn't want to hang out with her parents but thought better than to say that out loud. Wordlessly, Jethro started to open the passenger door again.

Tobias placed a hand on Jethro's left shoulder. "Hey." He glanced back at his long-time friend who then spoke again. "Rain cheque?"

He shot the other man a look. "I can wait." With that, Jethro got out of Tobias' car and quickly made his way into his house before his friend could stop him again.

The front door was apparently unlocked but he figured that his wife had just forgotten to lock it when she'd left earlier and wasn't particularly concerned about it. He tossed his keys into the small container by the door but before Jethro could take his coat off, he heard the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs.

Glancing up, he saw an extremely irritated, young redhead staring at him. "No way in hell am I living with either of them if they're back together." I should've known.

He sighed before walking towards and hugging the thirteen-year-old. "You know you're always welcome here, Em, but we should let your parents know you're here."

The young teen shot him a pleading look. "Can I please stay the night?"

He sighed again. "I'll talk to your aunt and parents and we'll figure it out. I don't think it'll be a problem though."

Emily smiled earnestly. "Thank you."

Pulling out his cell phone, Jethro made a couple of quick calls, all the adults agreeing to let Emily spend the night there if that's what the young teen wanted. Both Diane and Tobias were just happy to know their daughter was somewhere safe. As it turned out, Emily had already put a bright pink suitcase full of her clothes and such upstairs in Kelly's old bedroom. The thirteen-year-old was serious about not going home that night and dealing with all of her parents' drama. Not that he told the Fornells why.

Shannon ended up coming home from her coffee date not much later, the young teen quite happy to see her surrogate aunt walk through the front door. As was Jethro. His wife was the one with experience with fiery, thirteen-year-old girls. He'd missed that stage with Kelly, which he'd come to fully accept but still stung a little sometimes.

Once Emily had finished hugging Shannon, Jethro pulled his wife in for a more chaste than usual kiss. "So, how are Connie and Stacy doing?"

"Good," she replied happily. She then turned to Emily. "So, I hear there've been some interesting developments today?"

Emily raised an eyebrow. "That's one way to put it."

Jethro couldn't help but smirk. Sometimes Emily had so much of her mother in her.

Shannon shot her an amused look. "Indeed. I'm guessing you haven't eaten yet?"

"Not yet," he confirmed, "but I ordered us some chow after I got your text saying you were on your way home."

His wife nodded contentedly. "Perfect. What did ya get?"

"Chinese," he said with a small smile. "Figured the three of us could watch a movie or something over dinner, just relax."

"Can I pick the movie?" Emily asked with a grin.

Shannon chuckled. "Sure, just take pity on your uncle."

He rolled his eyes in mock offence. "I'm not that bad."

Shannon quirked a brow as she eyed him. "Yeah, right. And in other news, the laws of space and time no longer apply in this house." Her expression softened. "You've gotten a lot better though."

He chuckled. "I can live with that."

Emily and Shannon both shook their heads in amusement as the teen headed over to where their - well, mostly Shannon's - DVD selection was and started looking through them to see what she wanted to watch.

Satisfied she was occupied, Jethro turned and pulled his wife in close for a rather less than chaste kiss, Shannon eagerly returning it.

"I missed you today," she said as their lips parted.

"I missed you too," he freely admitted. It was sappy and he usually wasn't sappy, but Shannon always had been an exception to the rule. "Have you thought any more about what you're going to do next year?"

The redhead nodded confidently. "I think I'm ready to retire. You?"

"I'm still torn," he explained, "but I'm leaning towards it too. I might stick around for a little while longer though."

Shannon nodded, pulling him back in close. "I get it. Whatever you decide, I'll support it." She grinned, a strange twinkle in her eye. "It would be nice having you to myself a lot more though."

He chuckled softly. "You'll get no argument from me, Mrs. Gibbs."

His father finally walked down the stairs. "Save it for the bedroom you too."

He rolled his eyes. "I'm a grown man, Dad."

Shannon shook her head chuckling.