Ok, I know that I said I was going to try and get this up on Monday, but then school showed up and started beating me up, and said that if I tried to post this before I finished my school work it was going to fail me. And after I got sobbing hysterically, I eventually seceded school's point. But I have not forgotten about you! My classes are just evil this semester.

This chapter is longer than the last one, but still pretty short. I don't know why they keep showing up so short. I think that every time I get to the end of a story (And we are fast coming to a close) the chapters tend to get shorter and shorter. It's a pain. And I apologize.

Nineteen

"When did PFC Huntington take leave?" Jethro asked. He hadn't spoken in five minutes. He was finally putting the pieces together. The picture was very slowly becoming clear the more he thought about it.

He should have figured it out sooner.

Darklin scrunched her eyebrows together in confusion, not saying anything. Jethro groaned. "When did Private First Class Sam Huntington take leave to take care of his sick grandmother?" He shouted again.

"A month ago." She shook her head. "Why, what's that matter?"

Jethro jumped up and left the room, ignoring her screams of protest and confusion.

Marcus Tatum was in Baltimore a month ago.

Damn it, he should have figured this out sooner. He needed sleep. He wasn't thinking clearly. That wasn't an excuse, it was a mistake. One that he would never make again.

When he got back into the bullpen, DiNozzo and Morgan were already standing there with a street kid with short light brown hair and tanned skin. It must have been John.

He pointed first at Morgan. "Find someplace to stow the kid. DiNozzo, with me."

The two cops spared each other a curious look before DiNozzo darted after Jethro. "Where are we goin', Gibbs?" He asked when they stepped into the elevator and the doors slid closed.

"Abby's lab."

"She find something?"

"She better."

DiNozzo huffed. "You wanna tell me what's going on in that head of yours?"

The elevator dinged. Seconds later, it opened up onto the hallway in front of Abby's lab. "Corporal Darklin was there the night Jamie Taylor went missing."

He walked in front of the younger man, so he didn't see the confused look that no doubt crossed his features. "But I thought…" DiNozzo trailed off as the wheels started turning and he put the pieces together. "Damn it."

"Yeah," Jethro walked into the lab to see Abby dutifully working. "Abby!" He shouted over the obnoxiously loud music that always threatened to make his ears bleed.

She whirled around in shock. She spared a moment to stare at DiNozzo. Jethro noted that it wasn't full of disdain like he expected. Actually, it looked more like pity. She turned back to Jethro. "Gibbs!" She picked up a remote and shut the music off. She knew that he hated her noise. "What are you doing here?"

"What do you got?" He snapped, harsher than he initially intended. But if he didn't yell, Abby's rambling could give Ducky a run for his money.

She shook her head. "Not much. All the blood Detective Morgan and I went through belongs to Julia Chike. And there was a lot of blood, but I have nothing on her killer."

"PFC Huntington and Corporal Graham. They were working together." Out of the corner of his eye he saw DiNozzo's jaw dropped. He figured out Graham on his own, but he didn't know about Huntington just yet. But now he knew.

Abby's jaw dropped as well. "How do you know that?"

"My gut!" He snapped again. Graham told him that he was with Corporal Darklin that night. It was a lie. He thought that Darklin could identify him, so he claimed that she was nowhere near the scene. It also served as a damn good alibi for Graham. Huntington most likely picked up the trail where Tatum left off. But before he could grab him, DiNozzo took Jamie in, so he had to come up with a new plan.

"They killed that prostitute—" DiNozzo started until Jethro cut him off.

"There was more than one. Stan just found out." He trusted a serial killer. He couldn't believe he missed this.

DiNozzo sighed heavily. Jethro noted that he didn't look angry for once. There was another emotion there, but he didn't want to look too far into it. "They knew Jamie could identify them," he said.

Jethro nodded before turning back to Abby. "I need to know if you found something, anything."

She shook her head again. "There's nothing Gibbs. Huntington hasn't been home in a month."

"Which means that Graham probably murdered Chike!" Jethro yelled. He watched as Abby cringed away from him. "Did he track anything in?" That time he managed to keep his voice low so he didn't startle her anymore. He hated yelling at Abby, but damn he was pissed off and damn tired. It wasn't a good combination for him.

But she shook her head. "Nothing. I'm sorry Gibbs."

"This wasn't his first murder," DiNozzo interjected. "He knew what he was doing by then."

Jethro groaned. He finally knew who his killers were, and he couldn't find them.

"What if we tailed Graham?" DiNozzo threw out with a shrug. "Get him to lead us to Jamie."

Jethro rolled his eyes. "Graham hasn't seen either of them in a month. He's not gonna decide to pay 'em a visit now." Especially now.

"Not without a reason."

The agent was about to start screaming again when he realized something. DiNozzo had a point. "How good are your lying abilities?" He started walking briskly out of the lab.

He heard the grin in the young man's voice as he answered, "Just ask Fornell."

Jethro couldn't help but smirk. After a second of waiting for the elevator to arrive, he realized he forgot something and went back into Abby's domain.

Somehow he managed to get out after only a minute of talking—most of which was discussing how to work the doohickey in his hand—and went back to join DiNozzo at the elevator. The young man was already inside, leaning casually against the doors to stop them from closing. He didn't look happy with the task, but he didn't complain for once.

The doors closed and they were headed up to the ground floor when DiNozzo spoke. His words were full of guilt and remorse. "I should have figured this out sooner, Gibbs."

For some reason, Jethro felt pride swell up inside of him at that statement. "You're young." DiNozzo was a great cop, but he had only been a detective for a little over a year. He was a lead detective for only a handful of months. He wasn't old enough to have fully honed his instincts. Jethro couldn't make the same claim.

"It's not an excuse."

With a light groan, Jethro flicked the emergency stop switch. He wheeled around and whacked DiNozzo in the back of the head. He stepped into the younger man's personal space. "That is why an investigator doesn't work alone. You will miss things. But your partner might not, and vice versa. Always work as a team, DiNozzo." He stepped back and flicked the switch again.

"So what rule is that?"

Jethro smiled again. "Number fifteen."

"I don't suppose you'd be willing to write all of these down."

The elevator pinged on the ground floor. "Wouldn't show 'em to ya even if I did, DiNozzo." Actually, Jethro wrote the rules down years ago. Every time he thinks of a new one, he writes it down. But nobody knew about that, and he sure as hell wasn't going to tell DiNozzo anytime soon.

"What if I'm a visual learner?"

They left the building and headed for the parking lot.

"Then you probably shouldn't be a cop."

He heard DiNozzo grumble something about a 'bastard' behind him, which only made him smile.

"Hey, what kind of car do you drive?" Jethro asked. He didn't want to take his truck, it'd be too obvious in a tail.

DiNozzo looked at him confused. "A Corvette."

Jethro rolled his eyes. "Of course." Leave it to DiNozzo to have the most ostentatious car on the road.

The young man shrugged. "Doesn't matter. My car's still in Baltimore."

That was a good point. "What about your partner's car?"

DiNozzo pointed down the lot to a black Ford sedan. Now that was a car to use to follow somebody. A million people had that car on any road on any given day. It could easily blend into the crowd. "Go upstairs and get the key," said Jethro.

DiNozzo smiled as he pulled out his keychain. He clicked a button. The lights on the Ford flashed. "No need."

He started walking away. Jethro followed with a proud smile on his face. "You have a key to your partner's car on your keychain?"

DiNozzo shrugged. "I'm a good friend." He was smart. He climbed into the passenger's seat.

Good boy, Jethro thought. "He know you're such a good friend?" He climbed in behind the wheel.

DiNozzo handed him the keys, keeping his eyes down. He didn't look embarrassed. Actually, if Jethro had to guess, he wore a Cheshire Cat smirk.

"Yeah," Jethro started. "I thought so." He started the car and drove out of the lot.

"I told Denny," DiNozzo said after another few minutes.

Jethro didn't have to ask. He already knew what he meant. He told his partner about what really happened in the butcher shop. "And?"

DiNozzo shrugged. "And nothing. I mean, I always thought the words would feel more…" he shook his head. "I don't even know." He sighed heavily. "But I just felt numb."

Jethro didn't speak for only a moment. "I talked to Ducky."

DiNozzo leaned back and smiled. "How did that make you feel?"

Jethro grinned. "Well, doctor," DiNozzo chuckled. Jethro's grin faded, "he brought a lot of things into perspective."

"Yeah? Like what?"

Silence.

"Did you turn me down because of what happened in the butcher shop?"

DiNozzo turned to him, confused again. "What?" He drew the word out for several seconds.

Jethro spared him a quick glare. He didn't even want to have this conversation in the first place. But he had to know.

"Why the hell would you think that?"

Jethro didn't say anything. Truth was he didn't know what to say. But it was something that he had been thinking about for months. He needed to know if DiNozzo hated him as much as Jethro hated himself. If that was why the cop wasn't willing to leave his current job.

DiNozzo sighed heavily. "I did think about saying yes, you know. I mean, I actually liked working with you. I don't know why. And I do respect you." He chuckled softly. "Hell, I actually trust you."

Jethro smiled. "So why did you turn me down?"

"You know why."

"Is your partner the only reason?"

DiNozzo swallowed a lump in his throat. "Yeah. Yeah he is."

Jethro knew there was more that DiNozzo wanted to add. Like how the cop's boss was willing to throw him under a bridge on this case. Carnec was the kind of guy who would do anything to protect his own sorry ass. Hard to work for somebody who put himself first. Hell, it's hard to trust somebody like that. And in their line of work, trust was a very important thing.

"You know none of this was your fault, Tony."

DiNozzo closed his eyes and smiled the first real smile Jethro had seen in a long time. "What?" Jethro asked.

DiNozzo shushed him. "I'm savoring the moment," he whispered.

Jethro's eyebrow quirked as he gave the young man an incredulous look. "The moment?"

DiNozzo opened his eyes and glanced at Jethro. That smile still spread across his lips. "You just called me Tony."

Jethro chuckled as he made a turn.

Yes, they figured out who did it, no it is not going to be easy to bring them in. But that is all I'm willing to share. Hope you enjoyed. Talk to me!

Bob