Well, I would say that the closest would be moonlightxwitch and The Greek Me, so this chapter is dedicated to the pair of you. *Hands virtual brownies* people always give over cookies, so I'm giving you guys brownies. And just a head's up, I make fantastic brownies. Even virtual ones.

Now, I have a question that I've been wanting to ask for a while now. How do you-the readers-think Tony and Gibbs met? Do you think it was a case, or an interview, or did the director shove Tony on Gibbs team after he finished FLETC? I mean, this is my version, but I want to hear what you guys think. How did our favorite duo find each other? Maybe someday we'll actually find out, lol.

Eight

Then get a new one. The words kept playing over and over in his head, no matter how hard he tried to block them out. Dennis couldn't believe that Lea would say that to him. If someone asked who understood him the best, he would say his sister. But after a comment like that he didn't know.

She knew that Tony was more than just his partner, he was Dennis' friend as well. Yet here she was, suggesting that he just dump him off like he was nothing.

He had finished his nap, and now he was back at his desk, going over the files from earlier. He was catching himself up with the old Taylor file. He had to admit, Gibbs was thorough. He checked out every place that Jamie could possibly hide, both on and off base. But they didn't think about Baltimore.

Jamie had been missing for four months, it made sense that he would be able to make his way to Baltimore, but the question was why? Why come all the way here? Did he know somebody here? And if he did, why was he sleeping in a hallway outside a cop's apartment?

Without a second thought, he jumped up from his chair and grabbed his coat. He was going to canvas the neighborhood, see if anybody recognized him.

But first, he wasn't doing it alone.

He sat down on the edge of Detective Halloran's desk.

Halloran was a good cop, with over twelve years as a detective under his belt. He was decent looking for an older guy. His red hair was cut close to his scalp, and the lines around his face were deep. Evidence of the hard years and sleepless nights.

Dennis smiled. "Hey, you busy?"

"Always," Halloran responded. "Why, what'd you need?"

"I need to do a canvas, but it'd go a lot faster if I wasn't alone."

The older cop looked up with a regretful look on his face. "If I could help, I would. But I just caught a double homicide this morning."

Dennis didn't believe that for a second. He had been here since before five o'clock, there had been no calls about double homicides. And Halloran hadn't left his desk for a long enough time to go check out a crime scene. That would have taken a couple hours to do. So why would Halloran lie?

He sort of figured what the problem was, but he wasn't happy about it. "Did Carnec order you not to help me?" He asked incredulously. The regretful look grew.

Damn it, he wiped a hand across his face. That crossed a line, and Carnec should know that.

He wasn't thinking as he pushed himself off Halloran's desk and stormed into Carnec's office. He was letting his anger and sleep deprivation guide him. The captain was sitting behind his big mahogany desk, leaning back in his chair. He looked smug.

"Problem, Detective?"

"We screwed up."

"I'm well aware of that—"

Dennis cut him off. "Not just me and Tony. We, all of us. You are not blameless in this matter. In fact, if we're honest, none of this would have happened if you hadn't butted in on our case and called Social Services prematurely."

Carnec jumped to his feet. He no longer looked smug. He looked pissed. "Where the hell do you get off talking to me like that?"

"Where do you get off going behind our backs? First you call Social Services without telling us, and now you tell the other guys that they can't help?"

"This is your mistake—"

"It's yours too! But right now, I don't give a damn about who's gonna take the fall, I care more about the kid who's out there somewhere, who might be dead, and you're making it damn hard for me to do my job!"

Carnec circled around his desk and moved into Dennis' personal space. "You don't like how I run my unit? Then why are you still here? Transfer out, or better yet, take that damn job offer from NCIS!"

Dennis blinked. "What the hell are you talking about?" There was no job offer from NCIS.

Carnec searched his face. The longer he stared, the more alight his eyes became. "He never told you, did he?" He chuckled. "You weren't offered a position, were you?" His chuckle turned into a bark of laughter. "That's rich." He moved back behind his desk.

It just left Dennis even more confused. "What are you talking about?" He repeated.

"I suggest you talk to your partner about that." Carnec sat down. "In the meantime, my decision still stands. This is an NCIS investigation, and I'm not giving them any more of my men to play with."

"Jamie Taylor's gonna die because of some stupid office pissing contest." Before anything else could be said, Dennis stormed out of the office. He made sure to slam the door as he went.

He didn't need this. Now he had another mystery that he needed to work out. Tony wouldn't have kept a job offer from him, would he? They were partners, hell they were best friends. If anybody deserved to know about an offer, it'd be Dennis. Right?

He silently cursed. He had a job to do, he could worry about a nonexistent job offer later.

He pulled out his cell phone and made a call. Carnec wasn't allowing anyone in his unit to help him, but he didn't have that much pull with other units. And if he did, well… Dennis didn't think anybody would really lose sleep if he volunteered the help from a Unie.

"Officer Morgan."

"Lea, how would you like to earn your jockstrap?"

.

This was getting stranger and stranger, and Jethro didn't like any of it.

Julia Chike, their mystery witness, was an escort. Picked up three times for prostitution. As far as he could tell, she had no family in the Marines, or any branch of the military. Yet when he saw her that afternoon, she looked rather at home. As if she belonged there. And she was there four months ago. How did that make sense?

He shouldn't have left DiNozzo back at Quantico alone. He could use another brain working this with him. But he left DiNozzo, sent Stan to recanvas, and Langer was no longer an NCIS agent. He was alone with a puzzle that didn't make any sense.

"Something bothering you, Jethro?" Ducky came to stand next to him.

Jethro didn't take his eyes off the plasma. He was still trying to make all the pieces fit together. "Our witness who saw Karen Taylor alive when Jamie took off is a hooker with no ties to the Marines, yet she's living on a Marine base. She was there four months ago on the night of the murder, but not the next day when Stan canvassed. Jamie didn't kill his mother, but still probably attacked his father. So who killed Karen? And why?"

Ducky made a small sound at the back of his throat. "I must admit, it is one intriguing puzzle."

"It's a pain in the ass."

"I'm sure you'll figure it out, Jethro."

Jethro didn't say anything. A part of him wanted to point out that he couldn't figure the case out the first time, how was he supposed to do it this time when even more questions were popping up?

After another moment, Ducky started talking again. This time it wasn't about the case. Well, not directly, at least.

"I hear that you're working with Baltimore Homicide again."

Jethro couldn't help how his lip quirked in to a grin. "Yeah, Detectives DiNozzo and Morgan."

Ducky chuckled. "A bit ironic isn't it? I mean, out of anybody who could have caught this case, it happened to be those two?"

Jethro shrugged. "I worked with a lot of local LEOs, Duck. There's always a good chance I run across one of 'em again."

"True, but you don't take a liking to every one of those LEOs." He paused. Out of the corner of his eye, Jethro saw Ducky turn to him with a knowing smile on his face. "And you certainly don't offer all of them a job."

"He turned me down."

"Yes, but you still made the offer. One has to wonder why."

Jethro shrugged. "He was a good cop."

"He was. But so are many of the other officers that you meet up with. Jethro, I saw you watch over that young boy in the hospital. You came to trust him." Jethro tensed. Ducky continued. "And care about him."

Jethro didn't say anything. It was true. All of it. Sure, DiNozzo was a pain in the ass who liked to make jokes in the worst situations, and sure he knew far too much about movies. But Jethro did trust him. And he did come to care about him.

"Jethro, what happened in that butcher shop three months ago?"

The agent tensed. "Read the report."

"I have. It's all very technical, but there's something lacking." He paused to study Jethro's reactions. Jethro hoped he kept his face blank. "Or would missing be a better word?"

He finally pulled his eyes away from the plasma. "Drop it, Doctor." His eyes were cold and his voice hard. He wasn't going to talk about this. What happened in the butcher shop was one of his most painful memories and he wasn't going to talk about that. Ever.

Before anything else could be said on the subject, Jethro's office phone rang. He leaned over his desk and picked up the receiver. "Yeah, Gibbs," he said into the microphone.

"You know you're a bastard right?" DiNozzo's voice boomed through the speaker.

Jethro couldn't suppress the smile. "Yeah, I figured that out, thanks. You talk to McCane?"

"I did, no thanks to you. I mean, dumping me off on a Marine Base that I've never been to, to interview a witness when I don't know what to ask, and you don't even give me a freaking address!"

He really couldn't say he regretted any of that. "Why didn't you call me?"

"Because I didn't have your number. I had to call up freaking dispatch just to get you now!" Jethro heard some muffled sound in the background. "Shut up!" DiNozzo yelled. "I'm trying to talk here!"

Jethro minutely shook his head. "There somebody there with you?"

"Yeah, Corporal McCane. He's a little upset about being handcuffed to his dining room set."

Jethro took a moment to process that. "You handcuffed a Marine to his dining room set?"

"Well it was either that or his gas line, but then images of Kiss the Girls came to mind, and I didn't have a milk carton that I could shoot through if he decided to pull out a lighter."

None of that made any sense to Jethro. Hell, none of that made any sense period. "What?"

He could practically hear DiNozzo roll his eyes. "McCane attacked me. I handcuffed him to stop him from pummeling me."

"How did you manage to best a Marine in a fist fight?" Jethro saw Ducky's eyebrows shoot up and his jaw drop. It was an understandable reaction. Jethro was stunned too.

"I'm a cop, Gibbs. I do know how to take down suspects."

Jethro didn't know how to respond to that. Even as a cop, DiNozzo shouldn't have been able to beat a Marine. They were some of the best. Strong, solid, tough. "Why did he attack you anyway?"

"Because I accused him of killing Jamie Taylor."

"Did he?"

"Well I don't really know, after I cuffed him all he's really said was a string of profanity even I wouldn't say. I don't suppose I could get help bringing him back to the Navy Yard, could I?"

Jethro nodded, even though DiNozzo couldn't see it. "I'll get Stan to do it."

Before he was able to hang up, he heard DiNozzo say, "How does that help me?" He shook his head with a grin on his face.

Ducky stepped forward, still looking stunned. "Did I hear that correctly? That young man won in a fist fight with a Marine?"

Jethro's grin grew wider. "Yeah." He didn't know what else to say.

"Impressive."

Jethro didn't say anything else as he picked up the phone and dialed Stan. He told him to meet DiNozzo at McCane's address and bring the Corporal in for questioning. Stan protested for a little while. Apparently, he wasn't all that fond of DiNozzo, although Jethro couldn't for the life of him figure out why. They hadn't worked together that much before. Hell, Langer had more interactions with DiNozzo, and even then, it wasn't much.

But DiNozzo did pull a gun on Stan. That could very well be the problem.

After another moment of protest, Jethro shouted out, "Just do it" and hung up. He leaned against his desk and stared at the plasma again. He folded his arms across his chest and breathed heavily. He had another puzzle piece in his lap. How was McCane connected to Julia Chike?

I apologize that it's so short, but I honestly don't know if the next chapter is much longer. But, raise your hand if you expected this turn of events!

And coming next week, our [second] favorite Baltimore Detective discovers one crucial point of the plot and Tony does the unthinkable to Gibbs! Stay tuned to find out what!

Bob