Disclaimer: I'm not Hart Hanson, Matt Nix, or Don Belisario so none of these characters belong to me.

Gibbs was intrigued but hiding it very well. It always caught his interest when people took phone calls. The reactions they used could always tell you something about who was on the other end. Gibbs was also intrigued by Michael Westen. The man was an enigma and Gibbs knew something about those.

Michael dressed impeccably and kept military posture and he rarely ever showed any form of expression in front of everyone else, but Gibbs could recognized that he forced it. Gibbs had been watching discretely from the aisle opposite from Michael and saw that when it was only Fiona Glennane around he finally allowed himself to drop pretenses. Almost as soon as Fiona had approached his shoulders had slumped, his eyes had closed, and the tension had drained from his face. It was almost like someone had pulled a plug and the strain and the leadership character Michael put on gurgled down the drain like water from a bath.

It was a look Gibbs recognized after he finally got home when a case was over, only Michael looked like the burden had actually been removed, while Gibbs knew that he only ever looked like the bourdon had been temporarily lightened. Gibbs though that Fiona probably had something to do with the relief.

Michael had immediately picked the mantel right back up as soon as his phone had rang. Gibbs watched as he asked who it was. Whoever was calling was clearly not supposed to be a part of Michael's life judging from his completely blank expression. The whole cabin had gone silent the minute that Michael had picked up the phone and Sam and Jesse looked like they were poised to do something drastic. Madeline was watching in concern and Dr. Brennan and Agent Booth had stopped their bickering. Gibbs could pretty much compare those two to Tony and Ziva in terms of how they acted.

Michael looked blank for another moment before silently handing the phone to Fiona.

Fiona watched Michael's face go blank. After a moment he silently handed the phone to her.

Fiona gave him a questioning look but MIchael just shook his head looking lost, so Fiona took the phone.

"Hello? Hello? Michael are you there?" came a high pitched female voice.

"No, this is Fiona. Who are you and what do you want?" Fiona asked. She was trying her best to place the voice, she had the vague impression of a tiny women with blonde her and a shrill voice.

"Fiona? Oh thank god it's Ruth. Michael's former sister in law." Ruth said.

That was all Fiona needed to place the voice. She remembered being vaguely amused and severely irritated by the women, but not really paying her much attention. They had had a decent chat about shoes and had gone shopping together while Nate helped Michael with a job. Although, why she was calling Michael's one permanent cell phone was still no clearer. "Hey Ruth. How are you?" Fiona asked as she turned slightly and gestured for Sam and Jesse to relax.

The tension in the room decreased by a huge level. Sam and Jesse relaxed and Madeline frowned but sat back comfortably in her seat. Agents Booth, David, DiNozzo, McGee, and Gibbs were still watching carefully and Dr. Brennan was watching her like she was seeing a fascinating experiment unfold.

"Um, I'm alright I guess." Ruth answered.

Fiona rolled her eyes, "People don't just call up the brother of the husband they left without explanation taking a child with them. So either tell me what's going on or I'm hanging up." Fiona told her.

"Okay, well the thing is-. I'm in a little bit of trouble. Michael's kind of trouble, and I couldn't think of anybody else to call." Ruth said nervously.

"Well we're all kind of in the middle of something right now. How about you leave a number and we'll call you when we're free to help?" Fiona suggested using her 'this isn't a suggestion, it sounds like one but it is actually your only option' voice.

"This is kind of important." Ruth protested weekly.

"I'm sure it can wait." Fi said. Fiona Glennane had never had a very lengthy attention span, and this women was beginning to severely test her nerves.

"No it can't!" Ruth protested. She sounded like she was on the verge of a nervous break down.

"Ruth, calm down alright. Just explain what's going on so that we can try to help you." Fiona reasoned.

"It's Charlie! They've been threatening him. They've been threatening my baby and I don't even know who they are!"

Ruth sniffled as Fiona said quietly, "Charlie?" Madeline's head snapped up. Jesse was looking confused, Sam looked concerned, and Michael was once again unreadable even for her."Yeah," Ruth sniffed again. "About a month ago I was a witness for a court case against a guy I saw shoot a man on the street. After that i started getting some threatening phone calls from people I didn't recognize, and then-" Ruth broke off to cry some more.

Fiona was now giving the women on the other end of the phone her full attention. Not helping a women who had walked out on Michael's brother was one thing, not helping someone who's child was being threatened because she had tried to do the right thing was another. Everyone else was watching her phone call but Fiona decided to ignore them until she could calm down Ruth enough to get the rest of the story and work something out.

"I can't say more on the phone." Ruth said as she took deep breaths to calm down. "My address is 33 Oak Leaf Drive in Maryland alright?" with that Ruth hung up.

Fiona closed the phone and handed it back to Michael. She avoided the question in his eyes by curling up against him. There was absolute silence for a moment and she could feel Michael stroking her hair until Madeline said, "You have to help her." calmly.

Michael let out a sigh that Fiona knew would go unnoticed by everyone else. She also felt his arm tighten almost imperceptibly around her before he forced his muscles to relax. Fiona knew that Michael would help. He could never ignore people who asked him to save them. It was his own personal weakness and Fiona knew him well enough to know he wasn't going to start fighting it now.

Michael would help Ruth even if it got him killed. And Fiona would help him because if he died, she wouldn't be far behind.

A/N: You see that little button at the bottom of the screen? You know, the one that says Review? The one that so many people have been blatantly ignoring? You see it? Good. Now CLICK ON IT FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT YOU HOLD EVEN SLIGHTLY SACRED! Okay, now I'm calm. Review for me! :) :) :).