Ducky's office
Ducky is on his treadmill in his office while he is reading a rapport when someone cautiously knocks on his door. A big smile comes up on Ducky's face when he recognizes his unexpected visitor.
"Jacquelin, what a pleasant surprise. What brings you down here?" Ducky asks, delighted, and steps down his treadmill.
"Hey, Doc. Do you have a minute?" Jack asks, a little cautious.
"yes, of course," Ducky says and gestured for her to come in a take a seat. He sits down next to her. He notices she has a case file in her hands.
"How can I help you?" Ducky asks.
"I have a bit of trouble with a profile. I am not sure of it, and I would like to have a second opinion. The subject was in the army, and he is troubling me."
"is it about the serial killer case Jethro is working on?" Jack nods.
"We have a name, and I have worked out a profile on him, but there is something. Some radical change in his behavior that has happened that I can't account for in my profile."
"I am all ears," Ducky says, and a cautious smile comes up on Jack's face before she opens the file in her hands and starts telling Ducky about the case.
"the subject was about 28 years old, the first tour in Afghanistan, wasn't well-liked in his unit but did his job and followed orders. His fellow soldiers often hazed him, but he never reported it to a superior. Throughout what seems like two weeks from being gentle and quiet and a good soldier to suddenly attacking several men on base and he was dishonorably discharged. I was thinking, could a radical change in behavior like that be caused by a tragic event such as… perhaps something terrible happens to a close friend?" Ducky notice how Jack at first seems very confident in her profile until she suddenly appears to be guessing when she comes up with the possibility of the loss of a close friend. The sudden change and uncharacteristic behavior don't go unnoticed by Ducky.
"it would have to be a very close friend. A girlfriend, perhaps." Ducky suggests seeing how Jack reacts. For a moment, she looks up surprised and then put on her professional expression and look down at the profile in her hands again. "Or that he witnessed a close friend sustain life-threatening trauma," Ducky says, and Ducky notices the way Jack swallows hard. It doesn't go unnoticed by the very experienced doctor. Jack takes a moment before she looks up at Ducky with her professional expression that Ducky is looking right through.
"so, if he had been talking with a female soldier for let's say… 2 months." that number is too specific to trick the experienced doctor to think it is a coincidence. Still, he lets Jack continue. "and then something devastating happened to her. Could that be the cause of his radical change in behavior?" Jack asks. Ducky is looking at her with a suspicious look, but he doesn't say anything—he Concours with her deduction.
"that is possible if he had fallen in love with this woman. "Jack suddenly looks utterly surprised at Ducky for a moment and then look away, so Ducky continues. "it is possible that a devastating event combined with the hazing could be the trigger for his radical behavior. And adding that he wasn't very well-liked among his fellow servicemembers could add to it." Jack nods and looks down at the profile again.
"Being in a combat zone is stressful enough on its own," Ducky says, and Jack nods. she knows better than most people how stressful it is to be in a combat zone. "then those other factors combined could definitely be difficult to handle in the long run. Especially for someone that young."
"hard for everyone," Jack says and looks down. It sounds more like that last comment was meant for herself and not for Ducky to hear. Ducky takes her hand and looks at her with a comforting and reassuring smile. He knows how difficult it is to speak about combat experience. He has seen the same expression on Gibbs face many times.
"That was what I thought," Jack says with a smile after a moment and stands up. She forces a small smile on her face as a thank you before she leaves Ducky's office. Ducky is left with an uneased feeling about this. Jack doesn't close the door to Ducky's office, so Ducky can hear Jack making a call with someone. She sounds a bit irritated, sad when she talks.
Ducky is back on his treadmill and reading his rapport when Gibbs comes storming into his office.
"have you seen Sloane?" Gibbs asks and looks around the office as if he was expecting her to be there.
"Jethro. Hey." Ducky says cheerful and gets off his treadmill.
"have you seen Sloane?" Gibbs asks again, persistent.
"she was here 2 hours ago," Ducky explains. Gibbs is about to leave again.
"Jethro," Ducky says, and Gibbs stops in his tracks as he is about to leave the office. He knows when Ducky uses his first name, it is serious. Ducky gesture for Gibbs to take a seat. Gibbs doesn't really have time for one of Ducky's usually very long chats, but he can tell, based on Ducky's expression, that he needs to take the time for it. So Gibbs does as he is asked to and sits down, and Ducky takes a seat took. Gibbs is impatiently waiting for Ducky to start saying what is on his mind.
"Listen, Doc," Gibbs says when Ducky doesn't say anything. "I am tracking a serial killer. I need to speak with Sloane."
"I need to speak with you about her, Jethro."
Ducky firmly grabs Gibbs's wrist to keep him from leaving. Gibbs now knows it is severe.
"I am concerned about Jacquelin." Ducky starts.
"why? She is fine." Gibbs says even though he knows he doesn't even believe that. He has seen how distracted she has been lately. Gibbs at first told himself it was perhaps because she had a new friend or something, but when she started questioning her own work, he knew something was off with her.
"I have nothing against helping Jacquelin with a profile occasionally, but today. She didn't ask for my help because she needed it."
"So, why did she?" Gibbs asks.
"I think this case is personal to her. She knows more about this case, and this suspect then she is telling us. I got the feeling she was holding back on some details when she laid out the profile for me."
"why would she do that?" Gibbs asks.
"has she told you about her time in Afghanistan before her captivity?" Ducky asks. Gibbs suddenly looks very confused at Ducky.
"no. We don't talk about that. If anyone would know about Jack's time in Afghanistan, it is Vance. what does that even have to do with this case?" Gibbs asks, irritated, and gets up.
"I need to go and talk with Jack," Gibbs says and is about to leave. He stops in the doorway.
"Hey, Doc. Don't snoop around in Jack's past." Gibbs says and then leaves. It leaves the doctor with a very uneased feeling about this case and his two close friends.
Jacks office
After Gibbs left Ducky's office, he went straight to Jack's office to look for her. When Gibbs walks into Jack's office, it is empty. He is about to leave again when he notices her computer is on, and he then looks over at the couch where her leather purse is lying. The most alarming thing to him is that her badge is still attached to it. Jack would never leave the building without her badge. He walks over to her desk. Gibbs hesitates for a moment before he opens the top draw of her desk. He is hoping until the last moment that her service weapon is still int there. To his unpleasant surprise, both her service weapon and the two pictures that she keeps in the draw are gone. It is a picture of the wingos and a picture of Faith from the day Faith was borne.
"dam it, Jack." He says, irritated, and closes the drawer. He now is sure that something is off about Jack and this case. He got the feeling already by the way she looked at the picture on the monitor in the squad room.
Squadroom
"boss, we got a problem," McGee says as Gibbs comes running down the stairs to the bullpen.
"yea, we do, McGee."
"I think I know who his next victim is," McGee says and walks over to stand in front of the monitor, ready for a briefing where his two fellow teammates quickly join him.
"yeah?" Gibbs asks as he walks towards his desk, but he stops in his tracks when he sees Jack's smiling photo on the monitor.
"The suspect has been sending messages to Sloane for the past two weeks on a dating site," McGee explains
"Sloane is missing. She recognized the suspect. She knows something about this guy and what drives him. She went down to Ducky for confirmation. She knows this guy. Find out how." Gibbs orders, frustrated. He grabs his weapon and walks straight towards the elevator without informing his team of where he is going.
"Sloane is dating this guy?" Bishop says, confused. "a serial killer?"
"I mean, I kind of make sense." Torres jokes, but he stops laughing when he notices a very serious and not laughing face at all from McGee and Bishop.
"Sloane and a serial killer?" McGee asks.
"I mean no, but a total loner type. I mean her and Gibbs." Torres says.
"I don't think they wherever dating," McGee says, determined, and walks back to his desk. Bishop gets back to her desk, too, while Torres continues to look at Sloane's picture on the monitor. It isn't her professional NCIS credential picture, but a more personal smiling picture of her from her online dating profile.
"Torres, stop staring at her. It is creepy." Bishop says.
"I would totally swipe right," Torres says and look at his two fellow agents with a big grin. He receives some very disgusted looks from McGee and Bishop before he gets back to his desk.