"I'm just saying. With skill like that you really should think about retiring and opening up a boating shop. You could make customized boats for people."

Alex and Tony exchanged glances with each other from across the table. Tom had been annoying Gibbs with these little random ideas for the better part of the weekend. Gibbs was holding his ground like a champ though.

"I don't make boats to sell, Tom." He said as he turned back to the book in his hands that he was attempting to read.

"Yeah, and retiring doesn't really agree with the Boss." Tony said hurriedly. The last thing he needed was the kid putting thoughts of leaving NCIS back into his fearless leader's mind.

Tom sighed at Gibbs. It wasn't everyday that he got the opportunity to try to crack the demeanor of someone as hardened as Gibbs'. This was proving to be a bigger job than he thought.

"When's Sabina coming over?" Tom asked, turning his conversation back to his best friend for the moment.

"Not until later. Her dad wants to have lunch with her before he has to go sit in a meeting for the better part of the day." Alex replied.

Tom and Sabina seemed to get along pretty well. Sabina's enjoyment for crude and particularly disgusting jokes fascinated the boy and he spent most of his time trying to find the a joke that would make Sabina cringe in disgust. No such luck.

"Wanna go outback and kick the football around?" Tom asked, he knew his job was to take Alex's mind off Jack's death.

Alex nodded and stood up to go get the ball.

"Don't over work yourself," was Gibbs' only caution as the two disappeared outside.

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"Okay, be honest. Gibbs is like some super Marine, right? That's why he won't crack?" Tom asked as soon as they were out of earshot of the two NCIS agents and were kicking the ball around.

Alex laughed lightly.

"No, Tom. Just because you've finally met your match doesn't mean they have to be superhuman."

Tom glared. "Oh, what do you know? You're like the worse spy ever."

Alex raised his eyebrows.

"I am?"

"Well, yeah. If you were the best spy ever you would have noticed last night that Sabina couldn't quit staring at you." Tom said, dodging the ball that Alex had kicked unnecessarily hard at him for the little comment.

"She was only staring because I still look like I've been ran over by a truck."

"Yeah, I wasn't going to say anything ...but, really? A scorpion sting? At least tell people it was a snake or something and not a little bug that knocked you on your ass." Tom teased with a smirk as he kicked the ball back with just as much force.

"Tom...Shut up." Alex said with a glare and a smile. Only a best friend could manage to make fun of something like that and him be okay with it. Tom could make light of nearly any situation for him.

"So, tell me about this trial." Tom prompted.

Alex groaned inwardly but indulged his friend.

"NCIS is getting Blunt tried for all the stuff he's done. But for that to happen I have to appear in court and tell what all happened on the missions. In front of a whole courtroom of people."

Tom winced sympathetically for his friend.

"You're gonna do it, right?" Tom asked warily.

Alex looked up sharply at the boy.

"I don't really have a choice. If I don't Blunt could keep his job and Gibbs seems pretty determined not to let that happen."

Tom shook his head.

"I know you, mate. You're trying to find every reason to get out of this."

Alex sighed.

"Tom, this past year has been hell. I am so tired of...everything. I just want this to be over."

But Alex was lying. Anger boiled in his chest every time he thought about how pointless Jack's death had been. Blunt deserved worse than a trial.

But Tom seemed to buy his ruse.

"Yeah, I know. But it does look like it's finally ending. I mean you got adopted by a bad ass NCIS special agent. That's like the ultimate way to get protection from someone." he observed.

Alex laughed bitterly.

"Yeah, until I manage to get Gibbs killed like I did Jack."

Tom winced again. So much for keeping the boy's mind off Jack. But then a voice saved him. Sabina.

"I don't think so," Sabina said as she approached Alex from behind.

"Good, you're here. Now will you please tell this guy that Gibbs isn't going to die because of him?"

Sabina sighed and intercepted the ball as it came toward Alex.

"Alex, Gibbs is a trained agent as well as a trained Marine sniper. I think he can handle bunch of jerks with guns. I mean that's been his job his whole life."

"My father and my uncle were both trained agents and they're dead." Alex noted.

Sabina shrugged.

"Maybe Gibbs is better than them." Tom said with a smirk.

Sabina gave him a look.

"Tom, we understand that you have a crush on Gibbs. Just calm down."

Tom gasped and put a hand on his chest.

"I don't have to take this kind of abuse. I'm going inside. Maybe Gibbs will let me use some of his power tools on his boat." He stated as he turned to go into the house.

"He doesn't use power tools. Only hand tools, mate." Alex called out to Tom's retreating back.

The boy turned to look back at his friend with a shocked expression.

"For the whole boat? That sounds...strenuous." Tom said but continued his walk to the house anyways. He knew his friend would want some time with his girlfriend.

Beside him Sabina chuckled.

"Tom's funny." She said as she walked a few paces away from Alex and kicked the ball to him.

"He has his moments." Alex said simply.

"So, you're trying to think about how to get around this trial."

Alex huffed.

"Why does everyone keep assuming that?"

"Because we know you. You'd rather stab your foot than tell someone about those missions. You would barely tell Tom and me about them."

"There's no point in talking about something no one can change."

"But this could change your future. You deserve a good life, Alex. And I'm not going to let you screw this up. I don't care if I have to fly back to DC and drag you into that trial." Sabina said as she got up in his personal space.

Alex smiled as he realized he had gained some height and was slightly taller than the girl.

"Oh, you think you could take me, do you?"

"Of course. We both know you wouldn't hit a girl. Hard to put up a fight if you can't hit your attacker, isn't it?"

"Ah, you forget that I now have a whole NCIS team on my side. I'm sure Ziva would have no problem protecting me from you."

Sabina's eyes momentarily widened.

"Tony told me she was an assassin. Is that true?" She asked.

Alex nodded.

"Oh, yeah. For Mossad. She's good too. She kicked my ass all over the boxing ring."

Sabina smiled.

"Aw, is your ego crushed a bit, Al'?"

"No more so than usual." He replied, noticing that Sabina still hadn't pulled away from him. They were still invading each others space, neither one of them making any effort to pull away either. His eyes darted down to look at her lips. He wondered if they were still as soft as they were when she had sauntered into his room that night in France. They sure looked it...

Sabina herself was fighting a smile as she seemed to follow the boy's train of thought. She knew he tended to be shy about things of this nature but it was starting to drive her mad. How much longer did she have to stand so close to him that she could feel his breath before he took the hint?

Alex's mind seemed to be made up. Sabina had crossed the country for him and there was no way he was going to let her leave without something and who knew when they would be alone again?

Since his back was to the house he gestured with his head and asked, "Is there anyone eavesdropping?"

She sighed with a smile but looked over his shoulder to the house.

"No, I don't think I see anyone, Mr. Bond." She teased.

He smiled and nodded.

"Good." He replied before closing the gap between the two of them and their lips met. He felt her laugh cheerfully as they deepened the kiss.

"Just as soft," was the only coherent thought Alex was able to muster. Time must have gotten away from them for a bit because before they knew it a wolf-whistle was coming from behind Alex and a call of "That's my boy!" rang out causing them to break apart. He turned around to see Tom, Tony and, to Alex's dismay, Gibbs standing on the back porch smiling knowingly at them.

Sabina laughed lightly as she punched him lightly on the arm.

"In hindsight making out in the middle of the backyard probably wasn't one of our best ideas."

"Making out? Wow, barely a year in US and you're already assimilating to American slang."

They began their slow walk of shame back to the house and Sabina glared at him.

"You try saying the word snog in front of kids at school here and see how many looks of utter confusion and mild disgust you get."

Alex smiled softly as they made it to the back porch and Alex turned to glare at his friend.

"Most friends would warn their friend when they're being watched."

"What a dull life those friends must have." Was Tom's only reply before he turned to Gibbs.

"Besides, Gibbs is taking us to NCIS so I can see a dead body."

Gibbs glared.

"No, we're going to NCIS because I need to meet with someone and you can't stay here alone. I don't want you anywhere near autopsy without Ducky with you."

"You don't trust me?"

"No. Because when I walked down into my basement you were reaching for my bottle of bourbon."

"Tom," Alex hissed, his glare returning.

"What? I was just...smelling it." Tom defended weakly.

"Yeah," Gibbs replied dryly before turning to Alex.

"How about it? You okay to go to the Navy Yard for a few hours?" He asked.

"Yeah, I feel fine." Alex agreed as he walked into the house to get a jacket.

It wasn't particularly cold outside but he was in short sleeves and the last thing he wanted was to draw attention to his bandaged wrists.

Last night had been his first night without sleeping pills helping him sleep and he was surprised to find that he actually got more sleep than he thought he was going to. He only woke up twice and each time he could hear Tony watching television downstairs and even Gibbs' near nonexistent footsteps as they made their way down the hall. He was safe. He was home.

Just as he got his jacket and turned to walk back out, Tom entered the doorway and looked at the room.

"We gotta do something about this room before I leave." He stated as he cringed looking around the room.

Alex ushered him back down the stairs to meet Gibbs, knowing that the man didn't really like to be held waiting.

"What's wrong with it?" He asked as they made their way back to the agents and Sabina who were waiting at the door for them.

Tony and Gibbs were both checking their guns and Alex was surprised to find that the sight of the guns wasn't bothering either of his friends near as much as he thought it would. Once the boys were there they made their way out and towards the cars.

"It looks like a guest room, that's what's wrong with it."

"That's because it is a guest room."

Gibbs looked sharply back at his teen at the last comment.

"I mean it used to be a guest room." Alex relented firmly.

Gibbs gave a small nod before turning back around and headed for his Challenger.

"You sure you can keep up, DiNozzo?" The Team Leader called to his Second who was walking towards the government issued Charger.

"I think I can handle it, Boss. This baby can fly." Tony called.

"Just keep an eye out. Any sign of trouble you call me."

"I got your six, Boss," came the easy reply.

"This car awesome! Shotgun!" Tom cried as he ran to the car and flew open the door and popped the seat up to let his friends into the back.

Sabina and Alex climbed in the back while Gibbs turned the engine over and revved it up. Once the teens were all situated in the car Gibbs turned to look at Tom.

"Seatbelt, kid." He ordered.

Tom sighed heavily but did as he was told. Once they were out of the driveway Tom resumed his earlier conversation.

"Look, Alex, you need to personalize the room. It looks so boring."

"It looks fine, Tom. Let it go." Alex huffed rolling his eyes at Sabina who only smiled at his suffering.

"No, look, I didn't break into your old house and steal all your posters and pictures for nothing. We're hanging them up." Tom said as he looked out of the window.

"You broke into the house in Chelsea?" Alex asked with a groan.

"Well, what else was I suppose to do? I was there when you packed to come here in the first place and you left all the important stuff back in London. Who knows what MI6 was going to do with it now that you're not letting them use you like a puppet anymore?" Tom defended.

"You shouldn't have risked jail for it, Tom. You could've gotten into trouble." Alex admonished although secretly he was very touched at his friends thoughtfulness. He had wondered what was going to happen to all of the things in the house.

"Nothing's going to happen to the stuff in that house. I got Ben to call movers. It's all being put into storage until you and I decide what to do with it." Gibbs chimed in as he looked at Alex in the rear view mirror.

"Wait, so I risked jail for nothing?" Tom cried, causing Sabina to laugh.

"I think what you did was sweet, Tom." She assured, patting him on the shoulder sympathetically.

"Finally! Some appreciation!" Tom replied as he threw his hands into the air in exasperation.

Tom spent the rest of the car ride to the Navy Yard ranting about how under appreciated he was until Alex threatened him with bodily harm. By the time Gibbs parked the car and had gotten out of the car he was seriously considering locking Tom up in Abby's ballistics room until he was done with his business.

Tony was out of his car and was right behind them as they entered the building. He was vainly fixing his hair in the vague reflection on the elevator walls as the doors opened.

By the time they reached the bullpen Tom was nearly jumping up and down in excitement. This would be the first time he had stepped foot in an agency like this and he was determined to make the experience a memorable one.

Tony smiled as he saw Ziva and he crouched down behind the wall divider behind her desk in an attempt to startle the woman.

No such luck.

"Good afternoon, Tony." Ziva greeted as she didn't remove her gaze from her computer.

"How did you know it was me?" The man asked as he made his way to his desk.

Ziva only smiled mischievously at Tony before returning to her work.

Sabina pinched Alex on the arm.

"She's like a ninja." She whispered into his ear.

Alex smiled at her.

"She could see his reflection in her computer, Sabina." He explained, giving Ziva a knowing smile as they walked past her to stand beside Gibbs' desk.

Sabina mouthed the word oh silently as the realization hit her.

Ziva glared playfully at the boy.

"You are going to have to stop giving away my tricks. Even the simple ones." She scolded.

Alex laughed lightly.

"Sorry." He replied before looking around to for Gibbs. There was no sign of the man.

"I thought Gibbs said he was taking time off." He stated, looking around to the team for an answer.

"He is." McGee replied simply.

"Then why did he say he had to meet with someone?"

The team exchanged glances.

"He's meeting with M. Allison Hart. She's a mean lawyer lady. Potentially your lawyer for the trial." Tony finally explained.

"Oh," was Alex's only reply before a loud crash came from behind Gibbs' desk.

"It wasn't me." Tom said, his voice muffled since he was crouched behind the desk.

"What did you do?" Alex demanded, moving past Sabina to see the damage his friend had done.

"Nothing! I just wasn't aware that a baseball bat was standard issue for an NCIS agent's desk." The boy replied pulling the bat out from behind the desk to show everyone.

"You keep messing with Gibbs' stuff and he's going to show you where you can shove that bat." Alex said snatching it from the boy and putting it back in it's place.

He then pulled Tom out from behind the desk and pushed both of his friends towards the elevators.

"We're going to see Abby. She's expecting us." Alex explained to the team, leaving them with no room to argue.

Once they were in the elevator Alex sighed and hit the button.

"Yes! I like Abby. She's pretty. Gotta love the Goths." Tom prattled on.

"We're not going to see Abby. Not yet, anyways." Alex stated.

"Then where are we going? Are you taking me to see a dead body? I knew you were my best friend for a reason." Tom said happily.

"No, what is it with your obsession with dead bodies? At the rate you're going you're going to be a serial killer before you're twenty-one."

"I just want to see if they look like the ones on the telly. Don't judge me." Tom defended.

"Can we get back to the part where you tell us where you're taking us?" Sabina chimed in.

"I want to see if we can hear what Gibbs is talking to that lawyer about." Alex said softly.

"Oh, Alex, come on! Will you just trust Gibbs to handle this?" Tom replied, his excited voice turn serious for the moment. Alex's lack of trust frustrated him to no end sometimes.

"I trust Gibbs. I just want to be prepared for what's going to happen and I can't do that if Gibbs keeps leaving me out of things."

Tom and Sabina exchanged glances much to Alex's annoyance.

"Look, you don't have to come. If you want you can just go to Abby's lab. Tell her I had to go to the bathroom and I'll be there soon." He said, pressing the button floor that the forensics lab was on.

The doors opened on the floor and Alex pointed to the right.

"Go down that way and you'll hit her lab." He said, waiting for his friends to exit the elevator.

Neither did.

"Well?" He asked, holding an arm out to hold the doors open.

Tom and Sabina stared at each other for a moment before coming to an agreement.

"We'll go with you." Sabina said with a sigh.

Alex smiled and nodded.

"Good." He replied as he let the doors close and the elevator began it's journey to the conference room floor where he was hoping he would find Gibbs and this lawyer.

As they excited the elevator and they moved slowly down the hallway with Alex keeping a close eye out for his guardian. The last thing he wanted was to run smack into the man. That would be hard to explain.

"We're going to get caught." Tom said gravely.

"Probably."

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Gibbs sighed as he sat down across from Allison Hart. She had a smile on her face that made Gibbs' gut tighten. He placed the manilla folder in his hands on the table in front of him.

"Well, Mr. Gibbs. I have to say I was surprised that you had called me."

Gibbs sighed.

"I don't like the way you interfere with my investigations. But your ways may be what I need for this." He said.

"You were very cryptic over the phone. All you mentioned was a boy and MI6. I'm going to need more before I even decide to take this case, Gibbs. I gotta know what I'm getting myself into and just what is at stake here."

Gibbs opened the folder and slid a sheet of paper across to the woman.

She glanced at it and then slid it back across to him.

"Official secrets act? I'm already cleared to handle any case NCIS gets."

Gibbs only slid it back to her with a bit more force and replied, "Not for this, you're not."

She studied him for a moment before sighing and picking up the paper and reading it over like a trained lawyer should before applying the signature on the dotted line.

"Alright, spill."

Gibbs smiled, knowing he had her attention now. He grabbed the signed document before sliding the rest of the thick manilla folder over to her.

"That's all we have against the head of MI6 for endangering and blackmailing a fourteen year old orphan into working for them. Look it over and tell me if you'll do it." He replied settling into his seat preparing for a long wait.

The lawyer only looked at him incredulously.

"I can't just leaf through a case file. Especially one as big as your making it out to be. I need time." She protested.

Gibbs glared at her before sighing.

"Fine."

She stood up to leave but Gibbs only grabbed her shoulders and gently nudged her back down.

"You read it in here. I need an answer by the end of the day." Gibbs said smugly before turning to leave.

"You're serious?" Hart called after him.

"I'll bring you something to eat." Gibbs called over his shoulder before shutting the door behind him.

Allison Hart sighed at the man's ways. She would have protested but what the man had said about what was in this folder was more than a little intriguing. MI6 blackmailing a boy? This would be a big career boost if she won. She slipped off her heels and curled her feet into the chair to get more comfortable before slipping the files out of the folder.

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Gibbs walked down the hallway to go meet up with his team and see just what they had been up to since he took his leave of absence. He knew he had just kind of left them high and dry without a team leader but he knew they could handle it and they knew if they ran into any problems that they could come to him.

He turned the corner and saw three teens with an ear to one of the conference room doors. Moving a bit more stealthily he edged a bit closer to hear what they were saying.

"You can hear someone in there but how do we know it's Gibbs and some lawyer?" Tom asked in a hushed tone.

Alex huffed, "Well, if you'll shut up I may be able to hear whoever is in there and tell you."

Sabina only rolled her eyes at the boys and pressed her ear closer to the door.

"You should have brought glass cups. They would have funneled the sound to your ears better." Gibbs announced, making the teens jump and turn around.

Alex sighed and shook his head while Tom looked at the Marine with wide eyes. Sabina on the other hand was glaring at Alex.

"You didn't hear him?" She said.

"See? I told you you were a horrible spy." Tom chimed in.

"He's a trained Marine sniper and I'm a fourteen year old who everyone thinks is a spy. Don't confuse the two." Alex retorted.

"Close. You're a fourteen year old who's in trouble. What are you three doing?" Gibbs asked approaching the trio.

"Looking for a bathroom?" Tom supplied.

"Tom," Alex groaned before sighing.

"I told Tony we were going to see Abby so we could come down here and see what you were talking about with this lawyer." He answered, realizing this was the first time he was actually in trouble with Gibbs. That made him a little apprehensive.

Gibbs only rolled his eyes before motioning back down the hallway that led to the elevators.

"Alright, back to the squad room. Now." He ordered.

He waited until they had began walking down the hall before following after them.

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Ziva pulled out her phone as it began to ring from inside her coat pocket. Her eyes narrowed as she saw the caller id.

"Hello?" She answered.

"It's been taken care of." Came Levi Kroll's voice.

"What do you mean by taken care of, Levi?"

"Check your email. I do hope this holds up my end of this little blackmail game. Shalom, Miss David." And then the phone conversation ended.

Ziva sighed and moved to open her email account. There were two unread messages. She opened them and scrolled through them.

The first one was a document from Mossad taking note that Kurst had been found dead on a pier in France. A simple bullet to the brain. There was no explanation as to what the man was doing on a pier or any leads to who had shot him. Ziva nodded once and moved to open the second document. This one was a picture. Of Kurst's dead body. Proof that the man was dead. Down at the bottom of the email was a note that said, "being that Kurst is dead SCORPIA has officially called off going after Alex Rider. Kurst was the main one who wanted to go after the boy in the first place. SCORPIA is having a hard enough time sorting out who is going to take over as head of the organization.- LK.."

Ziva leaned back in her chair, she would of course make follow ups to make sure that Levi had not deceived her but it looked as though the man had gotten the job done.

She heard the elevator ding and she looked over to see Gibbs walking in with the three teenagers trailing after him looking a bit guilty.

"Gibbs," She called and motioned him to her computer.

The Marine looked at her questioningly as he made his way to her desk and looked at her screen. He scrolled through the two and looked through them carefully before nodding and patting her on the back.

"That's a good job, Ziver." He praised softly before looking at Alex and motioning with his head for him to come over to them. The boy needed to see this. He needed to know that he was safe.

Alex narrowed his eyes suspiciously but listened to the man anyways, leaving his two friends looking curiously after him. Gibbs made room for the teen and the three of them squished behind Ziva's desk. Alex read through the email that Gibbs told him to. Gibbs left the email with the picture of Kurst's dead out of the boy's view. There was no need for him to see that.

Alex finished and then looked at Gibbs.

"So, they're going to leave me alone? No more of Tony or McGee having to sleep on the couch?"

Gibbs nodded.

"Ziva took care of it, Alex. That's one less thing we have to worry about now." The man assured.

Alex let out a deep sigh.. It felt nice knowing that he wasn't going to have to look over his shoulder and be worried about getting someone hurt.

Alex looked at the woman sitting at her desk peering at her computer monitor with an impassive look on her face.

"Thanks, Ziva." Alex said quietly.

Ziva looked up at the boy and saw the mild look of relief. The boy could cross one of the many weights on his shoulder off the list.

"I am happy that I could help, Alex," She said, standing up putting her hands on his shoulders. "You are more than welcome."

"Welcome for what? And where were you three? We went to Abby's lab and you weren't there." Tony asked as he and McGee entered the squadroom.

"Ziva's contact panned out. SCORPIA is finally off Alex's case. DiNozzo, I don't want you at my house tonight."

Tony only smiled, "Oh, come on, Boss. You know you loved having sleepovers with me...I know Alex did, at least." He said confidently.

Alex smiled.

"Yes, Tony. I'll miss our movie marathons and you falling asleep halfway though them and snoring in my ear." Alex chided as he moved back to his friends.

"It's okay, Alex. You still have me to keep you company for another night. Speaking of, since SCORPIA isn't after you does this mean we can hitch a ride back to your house and get started on fixing up your room?" Tom asked this to Alex but he looked to Gibbs for the answer.

Gibbs glared at the boy.

"Do you really think you deserve to be taken home? This is a federal agency you three could have overheard something you shouldn't. This isn't MI6 or the CIA but most of the stuff discussed behind closed doors aren't meant for your ears."

"Well, to be fair...It was all Alex's idea." Tom said pointing at his glaring friend.

"Oh, I know who the ring leader is. Why did you feel the need to spy on me?" Gibbs asked, he hadn't planned on hashing this out with the teen in front of everyone but this was something that he needed to get squared away.

Alex huffed and threw his hands into the air.

"I don't know. I know you're just trying to save me the worry but I can't live with you just handling all of this trial by yourself. Not this, Gibbs. I need to know what's going on. Being left in the dark isn't the way this is going to work with me."

Gibbs let out a humorless chuckle.

"Who's hiding anything from you? Alex, there's literally nothing to tell you right now. Allison Hart is in one of the conference room reading over a very brief overview of your case. She's a lawyer. She's reading over the file to decide if she even wants to handle this case. That's it. There's no reason for you to meet her if she decides not to take the case."

DiNozzo then took his cue to chuckle to himself.

"Something funny, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked, his glare turning to his senior field agent.

"I see what you're doing, Boss. Trying to save the kid the trouble of having to meet the woman if she isn't even going to take the case. That's nice, Boss." Tony answered, smile still on his face.

"Is she really that bad?" Sabina asked.

"She isn't exactly a walk in the playground." Ziva replied.

"Walk in the park, Ziva." McGee corrected.

"Thank you, McGee." Ziva said with a sigh.

"Aw, I don't think I'm that bad." A woman said as she approached the bullpen. She gave the rest of the team a fake smile before approaching Gibbs.

"Okay, Mr. Gibbs. You win. I've seen enough. I want this case. I need you to get in touch with this kid's social worker so I can set up an interview. I need to hear every single detail this boy has since his uncle died." Allison Hart said causing Alex to stiffen beside Sabina and Tom. The two friends shared a glance at each other. They had seen the tense posture in their friend.

"Don't need to. M. Allison Hart, meet Alex Rider-Gibbs." The man introduced as he gestured to the tense boy. He slipped in the 'Rider-Gibbs' hoping that would be enough to explain the situation she was dealing with.

The acute lawyer senses seemed to kick in as she worked out what was being told to her.

"Well ain't that a kick in the head. Nice to meet you Mister. Rider." She replied as she held out a cold hand for Alex to shake.

"Gibbs was right. I didn't want to meet this woman," Alex thought as he reached out to shake the hand with a fake smile of his own.

A/N- Okay, horrible place to end. But I had to cut it off at some point. I hope my Allison was okay. She's harder to write for than Gibbs is!

And Sabina and Tom turned out to be a bigger challenge to work out than I thought they would. And yes I know I lied to you. There did turn out to be a small romance scene. I wanted to try my hand at it again and I don't think it turned out that bad. There shouldn't be anymore.

And one side note that's been happening since I wrote the part where Tony says that "The CIA, ASIS, Hell, even the SAS might even get their asses handed to them." -_- Guys. NO, the SAS isn't going to get into trouble. I know they were just following orders. This is just the character dishing out theories. He doesn't know how this is going to turn out. I do. But HE doesn't. I know there's no way for the SAS to get into any real trouble. Tony shouldn't be able to list every single person that's going to get their "asses handed to them." That's just me trying to get add some mystery to it...apparently I failed and I am sorry. The PM's can stop now. Whew. Just calm down.

AND while we're on the subject of me failing at writing I've been getting some PM's about "Alex, isn't being enough of a spy. He's supposed to be guarded and non trusting." Well, I was trying to get the point across that the team was making him open up and realize that he doesn't have to do everything alone anymore...apparently I failed there too. My bad.

BUT as to Alex NOT beating Ziva in the ring? I won't apologize for that one. I honestly believe that a Isreali assassin could beat a 14 year old teenager that knows karate. Spy or not. I know some writers put Alex up on some high horse where he is just the most badass person in the world...but open the books guys. I know Alex is smart and resourceful and badass...but ya gotta admit in hand to hand combat? He either gets lucky or he finds some sort of leverage on the person. But in a friendly fight with Ziva David? He's gonna get his ass beat. In Stormbreaker it was said that the soldiers there beat Alex in the fighting portion of training and that he had to MAKE himself get back up no matter how many times they knocked him on his ass.

….Okay, sorry folks. Rant is over and I'm sure half of you didn't read that(I don't blame )

And I know not many reviews got answered this time around. But it's in the middle of summer and I have nothing do this weekend so your reviews will more than likely be answered the minute they hit my inbox.

It's not much but I want to dedicate this chapter to all the people who died or who were injured last night at the Aurora Theater in Colorado as they were trying to enjoy a movie. I nearly fell out of my chair when I heard this. My thoughts are with these families and the injured and may the deceased know that justice will be done. /3

Okay, I'm really done this time. Read and tell me how much it sucked! (I don't know what it is, the older I get the more I suck at writing!)

I'm on Tumblr!