Tony felt a little uneasy at the hospital. This wasn't the first time he had been in a hospital, but not under these strange circumstances. The hallway smelt like bleach and Tony rubbed his nose to try to rid the smell. He showed his badge at the woman's hospital room door and knocked gently. He had no idea what to expect. Last time he saw her, she was in hysterics.

"Come in!" Came her voice from inside. Tony found the room warm and inviting, different from any hospital room he had been in on other occasions. A vase of flowers had already been set near the window and a homemade quilt was spread across.

"Hi, Agent Tony DiNozzo, NCIS. Have we met before?" he said jokingly, trying to break the tension in the air.

"Ha, funny Agent DiNozzo. Thanks for coming down here; I wanted to apologize for what happened earlier. I didnt get a chance to exactly introduce myself either. My name is Lauren, Lauren Press." she said and pushed her chestnut colored hair out of her face. Her glasses were slipping off her nose and the frame was broken. A bandage covered the wound on her head and only a small trace of a mascara trial was still on her face. She seemed to be finally calm.

"Please, call me Tony. And there is no reason to apologize. I'm pretty sure you are the only woman who has ever held a gun to my head although I'm pretty sure you aren't the only one who thought of it. Are these your clothes?" he said and picked up two evidence bags containing a pair of black pants, a black camisole, and a light blue wrap shirt.

"Yeah, the people at the hospital wanted to make sure that you guys got that in case there is any evidence. They also took scrapings from underneath my fingernails and sent them to your lab." she said. Tony nodded and sat at the edge of the bed. He set down a small tape recorder and pressed record.
"I guess you are wondering what happened. No better time to start then now. I knew Paulson; he used to work at the mall. I'm one of the executives in charge of the research and development. Paulson was an employee of mine. He called me yesterday and said that he was finishing his required time on the base and wanted to talk about getting back to work. I told him to meet me at the food court. The food court was a short distance from our offices and I thought maybe we could get something to eat, discuss things over lunch. I was only working for half that day so I figured it would be easier to grab something before I left." she said.

"Sorry to interrupt, but were you and Paulson involved in any ways outside the office besides being friends?" he asked.

"You mean romantically? No. People thought that we were dating but I didn't have much interest in dating at the time. We had that weird tension around each other. I suppose if he asked I would've but the subject never came up and then he got deployed. Is there a reason you are asking this?" she asked.

"My boss just likes me to cover all my bases. Leave no stone unturned if you know what I mean. He doesn't like any surprises. Tell me about what happened when Paulson arrived at the food court." Tony said.

"Well he arrived early. I said Noon but he had some extra time so he showed up at 11:30. I was in meeting when he called to tell me he was there so I suggested that he wait and I would try to be up in about fifteen minutes. The meeting didn't get finished until Noon so when I finally went upstairs, I suspected that maybe he had wondered off into a store or something to pass some time. I got upstairs and to the food court when I saw three men leading him towards the bathroom. Robert had mentioned them before when they showed up once while we were out for lunch with a couple of colleagues. He said that he owed them money but that it would be resolved soon." she said.

"Did you ask him how much he owed?" Tony asked.

"I didn't inquire. I figured it was personal. I knew that he had a little bit of a betting problem but it never interfered with his work. Since I figured that something was going to happen to him and judging by his state, he wouldn't be able to defend himself. He seemed like he was drugged or something. I followed them to the bathroom. They were smart in leading him to the bathroom that was more out of the way then the food court bathrooms. I stayed at the door for a few seconds to listen to what they were saying. One man was yelling about money and I couldn't make out what the other was saying. When I entered the bathroom, that's when the gun went off. I guess I screamed a little and they noticed I was there. They grabbed me and threw me to the ground. I thought they were going to kill me. One of the men grabbed my head and slammed it to the ground. My memory is a little fuzzy after that." she said.

"Try your hardest, sometimes to details will come later. You can always call us if you remember something." Tony said, lightly touching her hand. She looked down and drew her hand back slowly.

"Well, I do remember the gun was drawn and they pointed it at me. I think I took off my shoe and threw it at whoever was holding the gun and managed to hit him in the face. I took off after that and ran to the women's restroom. I have a master key to everything so I locked myself in the storage closet. I could see through the grate that one of them came in and looked through the stalls. When he left, I stayed there and just cried. I blacked out a little while later from them hitting my head on the ground. Next thing I remember is I hear you come in and find a gun stashed away in the storage closet. I guess one of our janitors thought he needed to be armed. I think you know the rest." she said. Tony laughed a little and turned the tape recorder off.

"We are going to need you to come to the station to make a statement. Your doctor will call us when you are released and a car will escort you home. You can call us later when you feel you are ready to make the statement. Here is my card, you can call me anytime you need something or remember something. It's my cell phone and I always have it with me." Tony said and stood up. He straightened his suit out and made his way towards the door.

"Uhh Agent DiNozzo, I mean Tony, you are going to find them aren't you?" she said.

"Of course we are, it's our job." he said and left the room. He stopped and talked with her doctor a little more. He was an older man, balding on the top of his head. He reminded Tony of Ron Howard, with his red hair. After getting a copy of her medical records and getting her clothes as evidence, Tony drove back to the office. He was surprised that she was still able to remember most of the information especially after the blow to the head. The doctor said that the blackout wasn't a good sign and he wanted to keep her another night for observation and do a neuro test in the morning. He hoped that everything on test was normal so he wouldn't have a witness who could be contested. He sighed and rubbed his temple as he got on the interchange back to HQ.

Back at the office, McGee and Ziva were going through the surveillance tape from the bank. Tony hadn't returned from the hospital yet and they eagerly awaited his return. Trying to make small talk, McGee spoke up about the tape.

"It's amazing what this bank has done with the tapes. It's pretty remarkable what they can do now a days." McGee said.

"Shh, he's on the screen. Zoom in on what he is handing the teller." Ziva said. McGee pressed a few buttons on his keyboard and zoomed in on the image. After cleaning it up a little, he found what looked like to be a cashier's check.

"There's our 30 grand. The facial recognition doesn't pop up anyone on this part of the tape or about 20 minutes before and after. Let's move on to when he withdrew the 10 grand." McGee said and switched tapes.

"That dates show it's about a week later. Let's see, he seems nervous. Look at his body movements and the way the bank security is reacting. It's almost as if they think he is going to rob the place. Nothing on the facial recognition on this tape either. Let's go to the account where it was deposited into." Ziva said and slid in a new tape. McGee fast forwarded through about five minutes of the tape before pausing on a frame.

"There, you can see a clear face of who is the account owner. I cleaned up the face and it's going through the database now. We'll see who it comes up with." McGee said and leaned back in his chair. The elevator dinged and Tony walked out, a mean look on his face.

"Laugh all you want ladies but it was a joke, just a joke. I don't have erectile dysfunction. All my functions are normal." he said the ladies coming off of the elevator with him.

"He's right ladies, his functions are all normal." McGee said. He had this smile on his face that was taking pride in his joke.

"And you would know about this McGee, that his functions are all normal?" Ziva asked and laughed. Tony finally let out a laugh of satisfaction.

"Oh payback sucks. Sure the joke may be a gay joke at my expense but oh, the rewards are sweet." Tony said and laughed manically.

"I don't know about his-functions-Ziva. I was just trying to tell them that what I said was a joke." McGee said, starting to blush.

"Probie, save yourself and bring these down to Abby." Tony threw the evidence bag at McGee. "It's the clothes that Lauren was wearing during the attack. It seems Paulson knew these men and he owed them money before he was deployed. Lauren followed them into the bathroom and she entered during gunshot. They attacked her but she managed to get away." Tony said. McGee disappeared in the elevator and Tony sat down in his chair.

"So how are we going on the bank surveillance? We got any leads yet?" Tony asked and Ziva sent the images over to Tony.

"They are going through the facial recognition now but nothing has popped up yet. It's only been a few minutes. Abby hasn't been much more besides the foot print so hopefully something will come up on the clothes or the facial." Ziva said. She leaned back in her chair and sighed a little. "I feel as if we have nothing to do. Paulson doesn't seem to have any close relatives, parents were only children and they died soon after he graduated high school. His older brother is in Germany working and there aren't other living relatives."

"Well sometimes these things take time. We might get more out of Lauren when she comes in to make her statement." Tony said.

"There you go calling her Lauren again. Tony I hope you aren't getting attached to her. Just because she held a gun to you head doesn't mean she wants you." Ziva said.

"She just told me to call her Lauren like I told her to call me Tony. It creates a comfort zone for her so she can tell us everything we need. If it makes you feel better, I'm going to run her and see what comes up. I'll see if she has any prior convictions or homework she didn't turn in. Just a normal check to make you happy. Why are you so concerned that I am getting too close to her anyway Ziva? Are you worried about something?"

"I'm not worried about anything Tony; there is nothing to be concerned about. I just don't want to create a conflict of interest. Just keeping the integrity of the department in mind." Ziva said.

"The only conflict of interest Tony has is whether to go out with the blonde he met or the brunette he met." Gibbs said as he walked through their group of desks. Tony pulled a piece of paper out of his printer which Ziva guessed was the background check. He put a file down on Tony's desk and tapped it lightly. On it was written:

Lauren Press
Possible Witness

"This is what I came up with after I found out about Miss Press. Here's a transcript of the interview in the hospital and all the records I found of her. Nothing out of the ordinary boss. She did know Paulson, he was a former employee looking to get his job back that he had before he was deployed."

"You're calling her Miss Press now in front of Gibbs and you changed your tone." Ziva said. Tony glared at her. Gibbs had to laugh at their tension. It was part of the entertainment here at the office that helped him lighten his mood.

"I sent Probie down to Abby with her clothes to see if she could find something." Tony said and tossed Gibbs the file filled with what he had gathered.

"Well I better go see how that is going. When I get back, I want to know who that man is. Get a BOLO out on him ASAP." Gibbs said and pointed to the screen where the mystery mans picture was.