Well, I did it. I finally did it! I finally managed to get my best friend to watch the greatest comedy ever made! Tonight I finally got her to watch Arsenic and Old Lace. She barely watches movies, and it's damn near impossible to get her to watch a black and white film. Ok, it's hard to get her to watch a movie that came out before the 80's and John Hughes. But she did it! And she liked it! Next stop, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof!

No, I am not a film buff, I like classic movies, sure, but it bothers me that my friends don't know who Cary Grant, Lauren Bacall and Gene freaking Kelly are. And it especially bothered me that my old coworkers (who are all over ten years older than me) used the excuse "Well, they were before my time" to explain why they don't know them.

Oh and before I forget, I am now officially on livejournal (blame unstoppableforce for that one *glare*), I'm posting most of my Gibbs/Tony stories (but the Slaughter House series is staying strictly on ff) as well as a few non fanfic stories. I'm whoring myself out right now, I am fully aware of that, lol. But you love me for it... I hope *glances around nervously*

Oh and before I forget, this chapter is dedicated to Toadflame. You'll know why soon enough.

And now, onto chapter six!

Six

Jethro had almost forgotten how angry DiNozzo could make him. After what happened between them, he started to only focus on the kid's good points. His way with witnesses, his ability to put clues together. And above all, how well he could handle himself in a crisis situation. But the man also had a way of pissing Jethro off in a way that no one ever could before. It was certainly impressive, but it also gave Jethro the urge to rescind his original job offer.

He knew that he crossed the line with his earlier comment about letting Jamie get away. It wasn't completely DiNozzo's fault. If anything, it was Carnec's, for calling child services before they even knew who the boy really was.

Jethro wanted to save the boy, even if it was for no other reason than he was sixteen years old.

They headed first to Sergeant Taylor's best friend, Corporal Emmett Graham. He was a few years younger that Taylor, but he was a good guy. He refused to believe that Jamie could have possibly been responsible for his mother's murder and his father's attack. Jethro figured if anybody would help them, it'd be Graham.

Graham lived a few houses away from Taylor, so the two men just walked. When they reached the right house—the white one with sky blue trim—Jethro knocked, then stepped back and waited for Graham to open up.

DiNozzo stood behind him, rubbing his tired eyes. Jethro rolled his eyes. "You ever get any sleep in Baltimore, DiNozzo?"

The younger man just shrugged. "Used to," he looked up and smiled brightly at the agent, "and then I met you."

Jethro turned back to the door so the younger man couldn't see his smirk. "You ever return your mattress?" The first day they worked together, DiNozzo got upset because he realized he had spent a boat load of money on a bed that he wasn't even sleeping in.

"You remember that?" DiNozzo sounded in awe by that.

Jethro just shrugged his response, still not turning to look at the man.

"No, I actually sleep in my own bed now. Well, when I actually can sleep."

Jethro finally turned to look at him. He hoped he kept the shock off his face, but he was afraid he might have failed in that regard.

He was saved of making a comment by the door opening. Graham stood before them, a little confused. He was a good looking fellow, his hair cut in the standard high and tight Marine style. He was dressed in a fitting t shirt and a pair of jeans.

"Agent Gibbs. What happened?" He paled slightly. "Oh god, Phil, did something happen, is he…" he trailed off.

Jethro took pity on him. "Sergeant Taylor is still alive, Corporal Graham." He could imagine just how hard the man was taking this. According to his initial interview, Sergeant Taylor saved Graham's life in Iraq. He must have been miserable knowing that he couldn't return the favor.

Graham breathed a sigh of relief. He finally turned to DiNozzo. "You got a new agent?"

DiNozzo stepped forward. "Detective Anthony DiNozzo, Baltimore Homicide."

"You're a long way from Baltimore, Detective."

Jethro saw how DiNozzo's lip twitched. He turned to Jethro, his eyes basically saying that since he was lead, he got to break the news. Jethro shook his head. "Detective DiNozzo found Jamie last night."

Graham paled again. "Jamie, you found him? Is he ok? Is he hurt? What's gonna—"

Jethro cut him off by holding up his palm. "But, a woman claiming to be from Social Services showed up and took him." He retold the story about how the woman who came was really a fraud.

The more he spoke, the angrier the Marine became. He turned to DiNozzo, his face now completely purple. "So you just let some strange woman walk away with a sixteen year old kid?"

DiNozzo stepped back, but he managed to stay completely cool. Although Jethro could see his jaw grind together. Jethro tried to move the conversation back to him. "Can we step inside for a bit?"

Graham turned back to him. A vein was pulsing in the side of his thick neck. "You can, your friend can't." He turned to glare at the younger man again.

Jethro was about to say that wasn't going to happen when DiNozzo held up his hands in defeat. He turned to Gibbs and said, "Anybody else I might be able to interview instead?"

Graham answered for him. "I know one. Satan, when you go to hell." He stepped back to allow Jethro to enter.

Jethro spared one look at the younger man before he stepped over the threshold. He could see DiNozzo's anger rise. It sent a spark of worry up his spine. He was usually the angry one, not DiNozzo.

The young man turned around and headed down the path away from the house.

With a heavy sigh, Jethro turned back towards Graham and walked inside. Graham was cautious and closed and locked the door behind them. He led them into the living room and crossed his arms.

The living room was a decent size. It wasn't necessarily large, but it was comfortable. The colors were dark and the furniture flashy. The perfect bachelor pad. "What do you want to know, Agent Gibbs?" The man was very polite and kind.

Jethro decided he hated him. "Do you know if anyone on the base has been looking for Jamie recently?"

Graham tensed. "A few," he admitted.

"I'm gonna need their names."

The Marine shook his head. "I can't do that, sir.

Jethro stepped forward. He was trying to be intimating, but comforting at the same time. "Somebody kidnapped that boy to do God knows what. Why would you protect the person who took him?"

Graham's eyes turned cold. "Agent Gibbs, everybody loved Phil, but nobody could stand that kid of his."

"Does that give them the right to kidnap him?"

"They're just doing what you gave up on!"

Jethro stepped into the man's personal space. Graham might be young and in active duty, but Jethro was still pretty sure he could take him in a fight.

"Corporal, do you want me to haul your ass outta here in cuffs?"

The two men stared at each other for a long time, willing the other one to break. Jethro had spent a lot of time with Corporal Graham when this case first started four months ago. He knew that he was an impatient man. The agent knew that sooner or later, Graham would cave first. He always did.

"A couple of the guys in our old unit. They were mad when the search to find Jamie was shut down. So they started looking themselves."

"Do they think like you do?" Meaning were they trying to help Jamie.

"No." Meaning they were trying to hurt the boy.

"I need their names."

Graham shook his head. "I can't rat out my men."

Jethro stepped closer. "What about when they kill him? You can't help Jamie and protect the men who wanna hurt him at the same time."

They stared for another few minutes. Jethro watched the emotions swirl through Graham's eyes. He was torn. He wanted to help Jamie every way he could, but at the same time, he felt that he had to protect his men. He was a Marine. Marines take care of each other.

But in the end, sense won out. "Corporal McCane and Private Braithwright. They took Phil's attack and Karen's murder the worst."

"Worse than you?"

Graham ignored him. "If anybody took Jamie, it'd be those two."

"Where do they live?"

"McCane lives three blocks down from here 320 4th Avenue. Braithwright lives off base in Georgetown."

Jethro nodded. Without saying thank you, he took his leave. When he walked outside, he saw DiNozzo across the street chatting up with a cute blonde number wearing practically nothing. Probably on her afternoon run. Jethro stood at Graham's door, just watching the young man put on the charm. His smile was bright and inviting, and she was just eating it up.

Some things just never change.

He was already angry when he walked out of Graham's house. Now he was furious. He walked down the path and got right in DiNozzo's personal space. The man barely spared him a glance. Jethro reached up and smacked him in the back of the head.

DiNozzo finally stopped as a look of pain spread across his face. The blonde looked between them, her smile falling from her face.

DiNozzo cracked his neck before he turned back to her, all smiles. "He's my life partner, he gets jealous when I talk to women."

Looking frightened for her life, the woman slowly backed away from them before she started running full speed. She looked over her shoulder to make sure they weren't following her. DiNozzo sighed heavily. "Didn't think that was all that scary." He turned to Jethro. "I almost forgot you like to hit people."

"We got a missing kid on our hands, who knows what's happening to him, and you wanna waste time flirting?" He was half tempted to smack him again. Instead, he turned around and started walking for the car again.

DiNozzo jogged to catch up to him. "Are you still doubting me? I'm hurt, Gibbs."

Jethro glared.

"She said that she saw Jamie run out of his house when his mother was still alive."

That finally got the older man's attention. He turned around and stared at DiNozzo. He was surprised, but he hoped that it didn't show on his face.

"Her name, in case you're interested is Julia Chike. She wasn't close enough to hear the argument, but she distinctly remembered hearing Karen Taylor call for her son, she went outside to see what was wrong, and she saw Jamie running down the street. Karen was in the doorway calling after him." He smiled that smug grin of his. The one he had when he knew he did something right and made Jethro look like a fool.

But Jethro was livid. "Why is this the first time I'm hearing about this?" He never met that woman before. When Jamie first went missing he led up one helluva search. How could they have missed something like that?

DiNozzo shrugged. "Did you handle the canvas last time, or did somebody else do it?"

Jethro cursed under his breath. He told Burley to cover that damn sweep, how could he miss something so crucial?

Without saying a word, he turned away from the younger man and pulled out his cell phone. He hit speed dial number three and waited impatiently for Burley to pick up.

"Burley," the blonde man said into the receiver.

"Get your ass in the office."

Burley was silent for a few seconds. "I took the week off, boss."

"We caught a lead in the Taylor case, and I want you in the office, now!"

"Alright, alright! I'll be there."

Jethro hung up. He turned around to see DiNozzo standing only a few feet away from him. He glared. "You're gonna go talk to Corporal McCane, he lives on 4th Avenue." He headed back towards his sedan.

"Where are you going?"

"Back to the office!" He called over his shoulder.

"I don't have a car, Gibbs."

Jethro climbed in behind the wheel. "Call a cab." He started the engine and took off. He knew that it was probably wrong to leave the man behind like that, but he was furious, and it was just getting worse every second he worked this case. Now he had to find Burley at the office and kick his ass for missing something as crucial as a witness who saw Karen Taylor alive and well when Jamie left the house.

He also didn't want to deal with a smug DiNozzo when he knew that he was right.

.

Tony gaped open mouthed at the retreating vehicle. Gibbs just left him, standing there. Alone. On a Marine Base with no car to interview some guy when he had absolutely no idea why he was talking to this guy or where he really lived. He lived on 4th Avenue. How big was 4th Avenue?

He pulled out his cell phone. What was Gibbs' phone number? Damn it, he got it before, what was it? He shut his eyes as he tried to remember.

"Son of a bitch!" He didn't have the first clue what it was. He should have stored it in his phone.

Well, he might as well start looking for McCane. Tony looked around the block. There were two corners that he could see, but he couldn't see their names at this distance. "Where the hell is 4th Avenue?"

Mumbling under his breath about all the things he was going to use to kill Gibbs, Tony took off to the west. He'd have to find 4th Avenue eventually. And when he was done, Gibbs was going to die. It was going to be slow and painful.

Images of Gibbs being bludgeoned with a block of wood came to his mind. With perfect clarity, he saw the man, covered in blood, his face a mess you could hardly recognize him. He was tied to a chair, his head hung low…

Tony shook that thought out of his head. He wouldn't beat Gibbs to death. He might just shoot him. Maybe in the liver, or maybe the throat. That would take a while, and he wouldn't have to beat him. That sounded like a plan.

Yes, Toadflame, you were correct. Gibbs left Tony behind at Quantico, which is why this chapter was dedicated to you.

Now, for everybody else, talk to me!

Bob