A/N: I'm back! Hello FanFiction world! I know its been a while & for those that have been following my FaceBook page will know i've just finished my MBA studies (YAY!), hence my absence. But that's now done with, so I should now have plenty of time to devote to my writing again, which i've greatly missed. Thank you all for your patience, I've truly appreciated it!

Not further delay, let's get straight back into it!

Michael was making a copious amount of notes, there was a lot information he was taking in & he'd need time to make heads or tails of it. He had to get it all aligned so he could ensure each individual man's charges stuck once they'd worked it all out & that their lawyers had no chance of finding gaps in their case, if any came up he would be devastated! He knew that Agents Fornell, DiNozzo and their teams were largely responsible for putting the paperwork together that he'd use, but with so much information, the more people documenting things would never be a bad thing. And having a detailed understanding of everything would definitely help him in the court room! He panned the room as each person seemed to be taking everything in, in very different ways, but the person that was looking extremely focused was Agent Fornell & he wasn't sure why.

Fornell had been listening to the boy's explanations and couldn't help but show disgust at what he was hearing. He gave another look at the photo of the man & that's when it hit him. Yes, this was the man that had shot Gibbs & the man he'd been in a stand-off with in the middle of the street, but their short conversation suddenly hit him "in the middle of my stand-off with him he told me he didn't work for MacDonald either, said he was in town as a favour" he announced to the room, he berated himself for not remembering this sooner.

Shannon's eyes widened, she really didn't understand this whole favour business "did he say anything else?"

Fornell focused as he tried to recall the heated and lightning fast confrontation "that MacDonald was not his boss"

"I just don't understand it, he never brought in anyone else, he didn't need anyone else" Shannon muttered to herself, but she knew her husband had heard her.

"We'll make sense of it Shan, we'll work it out babe" Gibbs whispered into ear, he'd work out who this man was if it was the last thing he did!

"Does anything else stick out about the man?" Michael queried

Mike shared a look with his brother as he thought about it, he worked his memory as hard as he could, was there anything? "He just had a really bad temper, not a nice bone in his body, he was itching for a fight from the moment he got out of his SUV" he finished as he took another look at the bastard, but at least it looked like the man had met his end harshly!

Myles nodded in agreement, the guy certainly wanted a fight!

"Ok, how about any of these men, recognise any of them?" Fornell asked, he agreed whole heartedly with their feelings on the man.

Mike took a look at the last remaining images, he didn't recognise any of them "I'm afraid not sir" he answered shaking his head. He looked over to his brother though, he recognised the look "Myles?"

Myles took a breath "that's the guy from NOLA!" he finished in almost a spat pointing at the middle photo.

"That's the NOLA guy?" Mike asked

"Yes" Myles growled "he's the guy that showed up to our hotel" he answered his brother, he saw a look of disgust come across his brother's face.

Shannon's eyes widened, she had no idea what the pair were talking about & she didn't like it one bit! "Boys, what are we talking about? That man showed up at your hotel in New Orleans?"

"Someone showed up at the hotel in NOLA?" Kelly asked as she entered the room, that was news to her.

All eyes shifted to her instantly.

"Shouldn't you be down in the lab" Gibbs asked his girl gently with a smile, he didn't want his girl in here right now, seemed like they were delving into territory that even his wife didn't know about! that just unsettled him even more.

"They've copied the files onto their hard-drive to scan for Rooney's image & squirt is knee deep in a computer game with gramps watching on, I don't need to be down there" Kelly answered, she didn't want to stick around down there, Abby was giving her the weirdest looks! Besides, she felt most comfortable here with the people in this room, her parents & Mike.

Gibbs let out a breath, he wished she would have stayed down there "you don't want to play that game?"

"Not particularly" Kelly remarked.

Shannon saw something in her daughter's body language, she was clearly not wanting to go back downstairs & the last thing she wanted to do was make her feel uncomfortable, "not a problem" this conversation was about to get interesting! She really wasn't sure what the boys were talking about with regards to New Orleans, but her attendance would make things more interesting, that's for sure, but how will her husband cope with it?

Gibbs flashed a look towards his wife, she was ok with having her here for this conversation? He raised his eyebrow in question, the reply he got was a mere smile, what on earth was that about?

Mike let out an internal groan, he really didn't want her in this room right now! Like really not!

Fornell was surprised yet again, he'd never ever known Gibbs to go slow through anything case related, but this, as well as previous discussions was taking its time to get through it all. He needed to move it along; he didn't want it to take the rest of the afternoon & evening "sorry, but can we get back to it?"

"Why are we talking about NOLA?" Kelly asked

Shannon saw Mike swallow, she knew he hadn't told Kelly about what happened at the retirement party otherwise she would have told her about it; she was betting the same was true for whatever this New Orleans business was, this could create some tension.

"Ahhh…" Mike murmured, how did he say this without getting his head bitten off?

"Well…." Myles muttered, he didn't want to get his head bitten off either & knew his brother was having a similar thought.

"Well…?" Kelly asked, why was he hesitating, he never hesitated & neither did Myles for that matter.

Michael didn't know these people, but he knew the look on the Bond boys faces, they weren't looking forward to what was coming!

Gibbs could see his daughter was now eyeing both boys, and they were both really nervous, while he wasn't comfortable in this situation, at all, maybe it was time to see what they were made of "when were you in NOLA? and what happened at your hotel?" he asked briskly, he wanted answers about this man, the punk was still alive! He needed to know what he'd done to his girl! If he'd come near her, he'd…

"I'm guessing it was the weekend before you shipped out to Frankfurt Mikey, am I correct?" Shannon asked, trying to help the boys, they seemed caught & she knew the look in her husband's eyes, he was getting frustrated and territorial.

"Yes Mrs G" Mike nodded towards her, this was going to be fun, not!

Shannon nodded "It was 2 weeks after the Admiral's retirement party, Mike was deploying out of New Orleans, there also happened to be a symposium that Kelly went to down there called…. Ethics & something in computer…" she just couldn't recall the entire name, she looked at her daughter.

"Ethics & Morality in Computer Forensics" Kelly finished for her mother, she had no clue why they were talking about the weekend in NOLA.

Michael's ears peeked up, he recalled reading about that on her resume, she was part of a team presentation or something a rather.

"That's the one" Shannon smiled at her girl "she got invited to it & given the timing and everything, she headed down for it & to spend some time with Mike before he headed to Frankfurt" she took a breath before eyeing one person "I thought though it was only Kelly that went down there Myles, you went along as well?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Myles swallowed, crap! "Ahh…" he took a breath "yes" he answered quietly.

Shannon shook her head "your father was worried sick about you that weekend! I received half a dozen calls about you mister" she wasn't happy about this! "You owe your father an explanation, sooner rather than later please"

"Yes Mrs G" Myles swallowed, he knew what that meant, tell him before she had a chance too, crap, double crap!

Kelly knew Myles was now up shit creek, but her mum was now eyeing her "he surprised me at the airport!" she tried, she saw Mike nod in agreement, obviously not wanting to be up that creek too!

Shannon shook her head "don't try that, but this is a conversation for another time" she wasn't very pleased, but knew it was a conversation for later.

"Sure" Kelly remarked, she was more than happy to delay this particular conversation, but "why are we talking about NOLA in the first place?"

Gibbs wasn't comfortable with this conversation at all! It was far too close to home, it was a family type of discussion, the issue was it was his family & he had no clue what they were talking about! It was infuriating! Absolutely infuriating! He was utterly torn, part of him wanted answers about this man, the rest of him wanted to curl up & cry about everything he'd missed! These conversations were getting harder & harder to hear, he wasn't sure how much more he could cope with!

"We ahh.." Mike started but looked at his brother.

"I ahh… kinda saw that guy at the hotel in NOLA" Myles finally said.

Kelly looked at the image, she'd never seen the guy, but guessed he was part of the group that they'd had a run in with at some point "you saw one of Mac's people in NOLA? When? I didn't see any of his men, in fact Mac wasn't even in the country at the time"

Shannon knew she was right, Mac wasn't in the U.S. at the time, it made it a lot easier to get Kelly out of the house to go down for the weekend.

"Our first morning there, the Friday morning." Myles answered "you were still asleep & I decided to go for a run, he was downstairs waiting for me with another guy, he seemed to know who I was & that I was there with you" he explained, this was going to blow up fairly soon.

"He knew who you were by sight?" Fornell prodded

"Yes sir" Myles nodded "as soon as I exited the hotel entrance they were on me"

"They didn't hurt you did they Myles?" Shannon asked concerned.

"No Mrs G" Myles answered, shaking his head "we were out in the open, they probably did want to rough me up but couldn't as there were too many people around"

"What did he say?" Fornell asked

"He demanded that I take Kelly back to Houston, to leave NOLA right then & there, he threatened the crap out of me & when I didn't budge he said he could make things extremely difficult" Myles answered, he knew his brother was weary as to where this was going because like him, he could see Kelly eyeing them both.

"Did he say how?" Fornell prodded

"Not specifically sir, just said that they could make things extremely difficult for me, Mike, my brothers, Kelly, Phoenix, all of us. It was the same things they always said to us" Myles admitted

Shannon didn't like it, but she knew what kind of threats Myles was talking about, there was one thing she was concerned about though "what did you do?"

Myles shifted uncomfortably for a moment "I well…. laughed. I sort of asked him if he wanted fries with that" he finished with a sheepish grin.

Kelly was confused and a little worried about what she was hearing, but she couldn't help but let out a laugh at his comment. She saw her dad give her an odd look "sorry" she swallowed, but it was just so typical of Myles.

Myles gave his friend a small smile at her reaction.

"Why would you…" Fornell started to ask, but was interrupted. Why would this kid do something like that? This man was at least 15 years older & definitely more built, it could have ended badly, why would this kid laugh and bring potential problems onto himself?

"Myles" Shannon sighed "was that really a smart thing to do?" he had done similar things before & it worried her, given Quinn's and the other men's past reactions to them.

"Kinda seemed liked it at the time" Myles couldn't help but comment to her before shifting his gaze "those lines were standard threatening lines we got daily sir, so my standard reply was something mundane, it sort of pissed them off" and if he was honest with himself, he loved pissing those men off!

Mike knew about the conversation his brother had had with the pair, and he could see the curiosity about it on a few faces, the reaction he was waiting for & dreading was Kelly's, once she'd put a few more pieces together.

Fornell had to admit, listening to these boys, neither seemed to the kinds that backed down from them, they both continued to stand toe to toe. Having gone toe to toe with the man he will now dub Loch & knowing what a badass he was, he was impressed with their guts in the situation. "How did it end?"

"I told him we weren't going anywhere & to stay away from Kelly, or he'd be sorry. The man shoved me against the wall & just stormed off in a huff cursing us, saying we'd screwed the pooch one too many time" Myles answered, he took a breath "there was one thing that sort of got me though"

"Which was?" Gibbs asked, he couldn't help but gain a small appreciation, apparently both the Bond boys had stood toe to toe with this men in defence of his family, maybe these boys weren't that bad after all.

"He said he didn't work for MacDonald Fielding" Myles remarked "I asked if he was there running errands for Mac & he said no, that he didn't work for MacDonald. It happened so quickly after that Loch guy said it, I just thought it was their new standard line, but it gave me the same feeling. It was like the guy didn't work for anyone, he was there because he was doing a favour or that he wanted to be there"

Shannon shared a look with her husband, she was getting confused & if she admitted it, concerned "I'm not understanding this"

Gibbs wasn't either & heck, he had no chance of understanding it if she didn't "we'll figure it out Shan" there was nothing else he could really say.

"Who's Loch?" Kelly asked confused

"We'll talk about that later darling" Shannon remarked, she didn't want to drag that topic back up, it would cause all sorts of bother & she didn't want to go down that path right at this moment.

Gibbs saw his girl give his wife a curious look, but there was something he wanted to know "Kell angel, do you recognise him at all?" had that man gotten close to girl at all? That was something he wanted, no needed to know!

Kelly looked at the image again "not that I recall"

"He never came near us when Kelly was around sir" Myles remarked, but he tried to avert Kelly's gaze.

"We never put ourselves into a position where if they did turn up it could be troublesome sir, we stayed in populated areas and never veered off the main streets" Mike added, he knew what Gibbs was wondering & wanted to show the man that he took the safety of his daughter extremely seriously. Even though he knew this was about to blow up in his face, he had to say it.

Kelly's eyes widened "is this why we didn't do those ghost tours or other walking tours?! Is this why you didn't do those bike tours you wanted to do Myles?!" asked eyeing them both, she couldn't believe it!

"Ahhh… yes" Myles finally answered, he saw his brother was standing there wide-eyed.

Kelly's eyes narrowed extremely quickly "You told Mike about him, but not me? Why?!" her gaze rested on Mike, she was angry.

"Yes Myles told me, but I didn't want to upset you so I made the decision not to tell you" Mike replied to her, this was his battle, not his brother's so he'd take it, but it wasn't like he was looking forward to it.

"Upset me?" Kelly retorted "don't you think not telling me was more trouble than if you had?! You know so many parts of that weekend make sense now! Don't you think telling me would have prevented those arguments about what we'd do at night?" she finished in a huff taking a step closer to him.

Shannon could see that the conversation was going to get interesting, she kept an eye on her husband. Ever since the pair started going out she wished her husband could see the pair argue, they really reminded her of her husband & herself sometimes. Back then though, it brought tears to her eyes with a sense of longing, now though, now she was looking forward to seeing what would come of it & how her husband would react to it. It could cause some angst she knew that, and she'd watch carefully for it, but she was also intrigued as to the path that this conversation was going to take & the reactions to it.

"No I don't" Mike retorted "I knew that if I told you about it you'd be a nervous wreck all weekend long! I wanted to enjoy the weekend we had together! I wanted you to enjoy the symposium Kell! I wanted you to enjoy the weekend as much as possible and I'd rather have had those arguments than put you in danger Kell! I'd never do that!" he finished with a slight bite, as he too took a step closer to her.

Gibbs couldn't help it, he stood there with wide eyes watching the pair go at it, neither seemed to be holding back! There were definite sparks flying between them! She was standing toe to toe with Mike & he knew the look in her face, it was a 'I'm a pissed at you but don't you dare go anywhere' look & he knew it because he'd seen it many times on his wife before. Looking at Mike, he wasn't backing down an inch either, and he had a look he knew all too well too, it was a 'yea I know you're pissed at me, but I'll take it any day' look. Gosh, he was learning quite a bit about everyone in this room, and that was part of his problem, he was learning about his daughter & her boyfriend when she was 21 years old! 21 years old & in an established relationship already, it just wasn't right! He should have been there from the beginning, but even watching what he was watching he had to admit it was a little strange but for a reason he couldn't quite pinpoint. Right then he caught a small smirk on his wife's face, what was that about? He saw her flash a look towards their girl & Mike & just smile, he wasn't understanding whatever it was that she was trying to say. He returned her smile none the less without even knowing what message she was trying to impart. That just caused her to increase her smirk which just made him even more curious. What on earth was she trying to get him to understand?

A/N: Well, well... it seems that someone had interrupted Kelly's weekend in NOLA, the question is who? The other question is how on earth is Gibbs coping with all of these interactions between his girl & Mike, because it's not appearing to be easy for him at the very moment, perhaps he needs some reassurance? Or maybe a punching bag? both?

You know how much I love reading your comments, they inspire me, especially after this hiatus, so review away people!

I'm going to get my other story - Discovering Kin - back on track next & then i'll be able to split my time between, so chapters so be coming more regularly, so stay tuned! I'll also be posting updates, images, etc on my FaceBook, Instagram pages:

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