"A dramatic shoot out in Brisbane City occurred late this afternoon when a number of armed gunmen opened fire on a police vehicle carrying investigators of the Fortitude Valley bombings. The unknown number of gunmen used automatic rifles in the attacks, during which one member of the Australian Federal Police was believed to have been shot twice. He remains in a stable condition. Police remained close-mouthed about the reasons behind the attacks, or those involved in the shoot out, however it is rumored that a senior investigator from a United States law enforcement agency, assisting with the Valley bombings inquiry was the target of the attacks. We'll continue to report further on the story, as it develops."

The story from the news continued to play as on television in the reception asGibbs and the team filed into their hotel quietly, having just returned from the hospital Roland had been rushed to following the firefight. Though no one from the American investigative team had been injured, the mood was subdued as they came to realize just how close they came to losing Tony. As it was, Dunn was not likely to be returning to the investigation. The damage done to his left arm had been more significant than it seemed, and in a quiet aside Dunn had remarked to Gibbs that even if he recovered, he would likely be wrapped up in enough paperwork to keep him busy for several years. The Australian agent's superiors had been less than impressed to discover that their lead investigator had supplied a foreign law enforcement team with concealable weapons, and this had only been exacerbated by the fact that the weapons had been used to kill one of the suspects involved in the gunfight.

Despite Dunn's casual nonchalance when talking about his superior's reactions, Gibbs saw the worry in the young agent's eyes as he contemplated what could ultimately be the consequences of his actions. He was frustrated for the Australian in that Roland had played every card right, but had still lost overall. He had calculated correctly that it would be advantageous for the NCIS team to have weapons in the event self-defense was required, and ultimately it was but Dunn would still face the consequences of going against his agency's policies.

Gibbs resolved to himself that if Roland did end up the unfortunate result of narrow-minded government policy, he would do everything in his way to ensure that a position within NCIS opened up for him once he had recovered.

The American team sat quietly in Gibbs' room as they re-read all of the material their investigation had turned up.

Gibbs was getting steadily more agitated. The silence that had descended upon what he regarded his family was unnerving. DiNozzo, for once, had shut up and wasn't quipping movie quotes or flirting with Ziva. For her part, Ziva had avoided any form of communication or contact with Tony altogether since checking him from head to toe to make sure he hadn't been injured.

And McGee sat with a confused look on his face, staring from Tony to Ziva as his brain attempted to process why the usually flirtatious partners were now pointedly ignoring each other.

Gibbs was just about to scream when there was a knock at the door. Sliding his hand down his side only to remember that the Australian agent taking over the investigation, a particularly annoying man called Noland Casks had confiscated the American team's weapons, he sighed and carefully checked through the peephole before opening the door to reveal two uncomfortable looking Australian agents carrying several shopping bags.

Waving them in, he watched as the two deposited the bags on the table in front of his agents and carefully removed a number of tubs of ice cream and a box of cones. They then made to leave, and as the second agent passed by Gibbs, he passed him a large box before disappearing out the door with his partner.

As his team forgot about their previous bad mood and enthusiastically dug into the ice cream, Gibbs carefully tore off the tape surrounding the box.

Opening the box up, he found the Sig Sauers that Agent Casks had confiscated from his team. A note sat perched on one of the full magazines of ammunition.

Grabbing it, he read;

A few days ago, I said once upon a time I was the same as DiNozzo.

Part of that is still true, I can't resist a good opportunity to get myself into more trouble. Take care Gibbs,

Roland

A/N:

I'm not dead. I'm just lazy.

Also - for those of you with brilliant memories, this replaces a previous chapter which contained so much sappiness that when I re-read it, I nearly threw up.