Tony and Ralph sat with Christina Mickey in the conference room. They'd finally managed to locate her and brought her Maryland and had her brought in. "I don't know why I'm here, especially at this hour.

"Ms. Mickey, you're here because your life could be in danger," Ralph said.

"From who? she asked.

"From the person who murdered your brother," Tony said.

The young woman stiffened. "It's been eleven years since Alex's death. If his murderer wanted me dead too, he would've done it already."

"Christina, your brother's killer is active again. He's killed two family members of the original victims," Tony said.

Christina blanched a bit, but she quickly recovered. "You should've done your jobs a decade ago and stopped this guy!"

Tony cringed. Honestly, that thought had creeped up in his head many times since he'd arrived. He kept thinking of something he could've come up with then that would've ended it before those two people were killed. But then again, they had very little even now.

"Do you have any idea who could've killed your brother and his friends?" Ralph asked

"No, and I told you people that years ago!"

"No, you didn't. I was the agent you spoke with eleven years ago. You never said much of anything about the murders. I never got a a chance to ask. You hung up on me right after I informed you of your brother's death," Tony said. He was getting suspicious. This girl was hiding something.

"Oh. Well, you had just told me my brother was dead. I was pretty upset. I guess I got confused about what I said.

"So you don't know anyone who'd hurt your brother?" Tony asked.

"No. Alex didn't have enemies. He was a good guy and he was a bartender, so his work didn't exactly make him enemies," she said.

"What about the two friends he was killed with? Did you know them?" Tony asked.

"I met them a couple of times, but I didn't hang out with them. I was nineteen and they were in their mid twenties. They were Alex's friends, not mine," Christina said.

"Okay, thanks. We wanna get you into a safe house just in case this guy comes after you," Ralph said.

She nodded.

Tony and Ralph quickly got up and left the room. "I think she's hiding something?"

"She is? She knows something about this, but we can't confront her on it until we get some leverage," Tony said.

"I'll work on that," Ralph said.

"Yeah. I'll meet you in the bullpen. I'm going to the head," Tony said before starting to walk away.

"Talk to him, DiNozzo," Ralph said.

Tony turned back towards him. "What?"

"Look, I don't know what happened. They won't talk about it, but I know you and Gibbs did something to piss everyone off. I can also tell that you regret it. Tell McGee. He'll listen," Ralph said.

"I don't know about that," Tony said. He wasn't certain McGee would listen, or that he should. Tony didn't deserve to be forgiven, especially after so long, and Tim wasn't like he once was. He was harder and probably less forgiving.

"I'm not saying he won't have things to say to you that you won't love hearing. I'm not saying he'll forgive you either. I don't know what you did, so I can't really comment on that. But he will hear you out," Ralph said.

"Thanks," Tony said.

Ralph nodded and headed back to the bullpen.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Tim walked into Abby's lab to see if she had results for him yet. She was his second stop. He'd already spoken to Ducky about the autopsy, which showed nothing spectacular.

Abby was by the computer and noticed Tim right after he came in. "McGee, good. I was about to call you. Results are in and I wanna give them to you so I can go home. There's nothing else you need, right?"

"No, it's fine, Abbs. Feel free to head out after this. I appreciate you staying this long. What do you have?" Tim asked.

"Well, the fingerprints were no help. Aside from a few partials, they all belonged to Jane Richards," Abby said.

"What about the blood? Anything there?" Tim asked.

"Well, yes, but also no," she said.

Tim raised in eyebrow in response.

"Well, there is a match in the system, but at the same time, it's not really a match," Abby said.

"You lost me. What does that mean?" Tim asked.

Abby turned to her computer and started typing and pulled up the results. "The blood matched another murder case from thirteen years ago. A guy named Cole Robin was stabbed to death in Warrenton, Virginia. He left DNA behind, but there was no match to that result, so while it's a match…"

"It doesn't really help. It means our killer has never been in the system. Somehow he managed to get away from any crimes he committed. It also means the death toll is at least six for this guy," Tim said.

Abby nodded. "Sorry I couldn't be more helpful."

"You gave me a place to start. We'll start looking into that case in the morning. Go home, Abby. It's been a hell of a day," Tim said.

Abby nodded and grabbed her stuff, which she already had out and ready for when she left. She then followed Tim out of the lab, quickly locked up and got into the elevator, which was held for her. "Thanks, Timmy.

Tim hit the button for the bullpen. "I think you should talk to him, Abby."

Abby decided not to even pretend she didn't know who he meant. "No."

"Abby, this has been affecting your life for five years. Talk to Gibbs, not for his sake, for yours. You need to find some peace with this," Tim said.

"Are you gonna do the same?" Abby asked.

"I will listen and talk should he want to talk to me about anything that doesn't involve bullying me to hand him my case. But it's not the same, Abs. You thought of Gibbs as a father. No one in this building was closer to him than you and you felt the same.

"No, father's don't go out of contact for five years. I wasn't even good enough to say goodbye to. He didn't speak a single word to me!" Abby cried. She was so hurt by that. Gibbs had simply put a finger to her lips to quiet her and kissed her on the cheek. Like that would really be enough for her.

Tim stopped the elevator just as the doors were about to open and pulled Abby into his arms. "I know he hurt you a lot, Abby. I think you need to tell him that. He needs to know what he put you through and you need to get it off your chest so you can let it all go."

Abby let go after a second and wiped her eyes. "Then doesn't he need to know what he put you through?"

"Like I said, it's not the same," Tim said. Actually the truth was that he didn't want Gibbs to see that weakness in him. He'd worked hard to become a strong person, mostly out of necessity, but he didn't want Gibbs or Tony seeing anything else. He would listen to them should they ask, but he would not them in that way. Well, at least not Gibbs, not when he'd shown that he didn't really care or have any respect at all for him. With Abby, it was kind of different because of how close the two were. She needed to let Gibbs know what he'd done to her.

Tim quickly hit the switch to turn the elevator back on and the doors opened. "Have a good night, Abby."

"Bye, Timmy."

Tim headed towards his desk and addressed the team. "Go home. We're not getting anything else done tonight."

Ziva, Brooks, and Ralph wasted no time getting their things together.

Tony grabbed his things too, but stopped when he reached Tim's desk.

Tim of course noticed. "What do you need, Tony."

Tony took a couple of seconds to work up the nerve to speak. "I know it's late, but I was wondering if you had time for coffee."

Tim considered turning Tony down. Again, he intended to listen to Tony, but it was very late and he was tired, so he considered putting the man off. But the pleading look in the other team leader's eyes made him take pity. "Sure. I'll meet you at the one around the corner from here."

Tony nodded gratefully and headed for the elevator.