So many things started going through Chris' head as his lips automatically parted, inviting the warm, disarming kiss. Of all the people in the world, he didn't want to hurt, couldn't hurt, sweet Merri Brody. Not after she'd stood by him and ultimately saved his life by talking to him while he'd been entombed. He couldn't lead her on either. It wouldn't be fair when he was still grieving. But damn her tongue felt good meshing against his own. Unlike the women he picked up at the bar there was a sense of real emotion with it making his pulse quicken.

He didn't want it to end but whatever was beginning to happen between them wasn't going to work at least not right now.

He wasn't sure what she was trying to accomplish or if she was acting on feelings that had emerged from the recent attempt of his demise. At any other time he might have decided to follow his gut and give into her but not today. He'd just laid fresh flowers at his dead girlfriend's grave. There was no way he could possibly think of actually being with someone else.

The timing was off.

His hands slid down her arms, curling his fingers around her defined biceps. Gently, he pushed her away breaking the kiss. "Trust me, ya don't want this." He said looking into her large, demanding chocolate eyes.

"Don't tell me what I want." She whispered into his mouth right before he pulled back his chin releasing the hold on her arms as she tried to grab the keyless remote.

"I can't." he said, snatching them back. So, that was her motivation for the potentially steamy kiss or so he thought wondering about her next move.

She looked at him a bit sheepishly, but not necessarily hurt which was a good sign, making him think she was more into it for control of the keys. He watched her carefully as she lowered her head nodding in agreement before starting to circle back around the truck.

Maybe not, but if being with me helps to keep you alive I'm all in.

"Excuse me?" Now he was the one looking confused. Brody said something but it was too soft for him to hear.

"Nothing," she replied in tone that he could understand.

Chris stood there a moment baffled as hell before climbing up into the driver's seat. His partner of almost two years had just dropped another huge bomb on him. The first had been when she slapped him for bringing up how her grief for Emily had caused the incident on the Moultrie.

The ride home was an uncomfortable one, mighty uncomfortable; silent with no eye contact whatsoever. Brody stared out of the passenger window while he kept his eyes sharply on the road ahead except for an occasional quick glance of her profile. Man, what had she been thinking? They were just partners, good friends weren't they? Some times it was hard to tell with the female agent. But she'd really come a long ways from the overly uptight person she had been when they first met and giving him her sister's necklace spoke volumes to just how much she really cared.

So, just as with the slap thing they were seemingly back to normal or at least that was the way it he was going to play it for now.

"Ya still want that dinner?" he asked, when they reached Loretta's guest house.

Reaching over the console, she gave his forearm a squeeze. "It's a been a long couple of days, I think I'll just go inside and relax with a nice glass of wine." It was the only thing she could think of to save face after making such a bold move on her partner.

Chris looked down at his lap, a bit disappointed but there was no sense in letting a good reservation go to waste. "Ok, I'll call up Pride see if he wants to go then."

Trading one life saver for the other Brody thought as she slid out of the truck before looking back, it was a good tactic. At least it was one that would keep him safe.

"Listen LaSalle, If you still want the couch-"she said reverting back to his last name, out of discomfort.

"I'm good," Chris answered quickly. Clearly, the discomfort was mutual.

Brody forced herself not to roll her eyes as he refused, knowing that it would only start their childish bickering all over again. "Well then, stay safe tonight and I'll see you tomorrow."

"See ya tomorrow." LaSalle repeated watching her disappear into the house before letting out a heavy sigh.

Brody stepped into the house and pressed her forehead to the front door before intentionally banging it against the solid oak. She had him agreeing to stay with her, out of that house of horror that he lived in and then she stupidly let him get away. A sick feeling in her stomach told her not to leave him alone. "You shouldn't have pushed, Merri." She said unaware of the presence in the room.

Loretta's hand fell to her shoulder and she jumped, shrieking a little.

"I didn't mean to startle you," the medical examiner apologized. "But you seem distressed. Is everything all right?"

"It's Chris. I'm worried about him." She confessed, stepping into the living room with Loretta. Worried was really an understatement. She'd seen the way that Chris looked at the attending physician in the emergency room when the man questioned him about had brought him to the E.R. As unbelievable as his story was the agent had barely been able to get the words out. But rather than a full-pysch evaluation LaSalle had managed to charm the man into letting him go with the promise that if he had any residual reactions to his being stalked and buried alive that he would be seek professional help. Brody had seen first hand how he had reacted to the trauma surrounding Savannah's death and feared what this new emotional upheaval might bring.

"That boy has been through a lot." Loretta said, emphasizing the words a lot.

"With the way, he reacts to all of it, I'm afraid he's going to end up dead on the street." This past week was proof that of that. Brody feared that as soon as the sun went down the man would be back at his bar of choice looking for a way to deal with all of the insanity that had come into his life.

"If there's one thing I know about Christopher, that he is resilient." Loretta squeezed the younger woman shoulders. "He'll get through this. But you I'm not so sure."

Brody frowned thoughtfully at her dear friend before following her into the kitchen. Loretta had obviously known Chris a great deal of time longer than she had but he was her partner. They'd for lack of a better term spent quality time together. Merri saw things in him that others did not. Pride was the only exception.

She knew the minute her tongue had touched his that the kiss wasn't exactly electrifying for him which is why she had gone for the keys, but at the same time she sensed that he was holding back. She seen him throw himself at strange women to temporarily curb his grief so he wasn't completely closed off to the idea of being with someone else. He just wasn't ready for the idea that he could actually love someone else. Obviously, he didn't want to just use her like the number of said faceless women he'd been with over the past six months and she appreciated that.

"Christopher has always kept his deepest hurts buried deep inside. I'll never forget when I first met him so uptight and angry. The only difference now is that he's learned to use a poker face and a charming smile," Loretta said reaching for the tea kettle.

"Don't get me started on that smile." Brody quipped, going to the cupboard to fetch to coffee style mugs.

"Sebastian ol' buddy!"

The official work day was nearing the end when LaSalle walked into the offices of the morgue. He still had a few hours before he had to meet Pride and Since going home and sleep were both out of the question he decided to put all of his energy into tracking down his so called mystery lady. He knew that it would not yield any tangible results if she were just a Good Samaritan but it was worth a try and it would keep his mind temporarily off of Brody and her impromptu kiss, the kiss that refused to leave his mind.

"LaSalle, what brings you here?" Sebastian looked rather nervous when the agent clamped his hand down on his shoulder. LaSalle had the look of needing something in his eyes and the weird scientist feared he knew what. The DNA samples that Pride had brought back from Mobile hit a match right away (a rather confusing match that would only bring up more questions).

"I need to know what you can tell me about those hairs that were found in the motel room in Mobile." Chris said, getting straight to the point.

"Everything and yet nothing," the lovable lab geek swallowed before changing the subject. "Shouldn't you be at home resting?"

"I'll rest when I find out the identity of my mystery lady. Now come on, cough it up."

Sebastian pressed a closed fist against his chest and proceeded to cough, pathetically, "Sorry, I got nothing."

"Nothing as in you don't have name?"

"Nothing as in I'm not allowed to tell you." Sebastian answered feeling quite small.

"Pride asked ya not tuh tell me?" Chris' lips fell into a tight line. First, Brody and now Pride? Talk about a pair of mother hens. Though he loved them both to death the coddling was already starting to get to him. The three of them needed to have a serious talk which would include some ground rules for helping through his most recent unfortunate event.

"Ordered actually." Sebastian shifting his eyes away from the shorter man.

"Oh I see, kind of like how I asked you not to tell him about the Hart case?"

Sebastian hung his head. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't win when it came to keeping things from his friends and truth be known it irritated him slightly when they asked, even if they had good intentions. "I knew you were going to bring that up." he said, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "But I really can't, Loretta said she would-"

Chris circled around the counter so that he was facing the timid man. "The way I see it you owe me, Bud."

Sebastian looked away for a moment more before hastily tapping at his keyboard. "Her name is Claire Keats, 30 years old. No address. There you have it. Now let's go have a beer, well you can have a beer and I'll have a Tom Collins."

LaSalle's face twisted slightly, blocking out the gibberish, "How can she not have a last known address?"

"Oh maybe because she's a Doppleganger," Sebastian answered a matter-of-factly.

"Uh Dopple What?" What in the hell was the lab rat talking about? "Sebastian-"

"Doppleganger," Sebastian repeated, "It's an apparition that appears as a double to a living person."

"So you're telling me, Claire Keats is a ghost?"

"I prefer twin," Sebastian turned the computer monitor to reveal a picture of the mystery woman. "That is what Dwayne didn't want you to know. He thought it might upset you given that you were just almost laid to rest next to-" he said, stopping in mid sentence. LaSalle wasn't listening.

It might as well have been ghost Chris thought as all of the color drained from his face. With the exception of the blonde hair, Claire Keats was a dead ringer for Savannah. She had the same bright green eyes, small nose, high cheekbones and porcelain skin.

LaSalle raked a hand over his mouth, his throat suddenly going dry. He knew the wives tale that supposedly every person in the world had a twin, but like most he didn't believe it and Savannah, well, there was just no way that anyone could possibly. Alexandria Hale had sort of resembled the Southern Bell, but this... It couldn't possibly be right. Someone obviously was still playin' tricks and sick ones at that.

"Are you ready for the kicker?" Sebastian asked, his quickly paling friend.

Chris looked at his friend wild eyed as if that wasn't enough. Good god, what else could there possibly be?

"She's one of us or one of you." Sebastian added not realizing he was going in for the kill shot.

"What?" LaSalle dreaded what was coming next. As it was it he already felt like someone was trying to rip guts out and at the moment that person seemed to be Sebastian.

"She's an NCIS agent."

Disclaimer: Agent Claire Keats does not belong to me and is property of the NCIS franchise and CBS.

But there you have it. The mystery woman has been revealed. The question is what is LaSalle going to do about it?