Just so you all know, I am starting this chapter on 12/10/11 at 10:39 PM. Updated…who knows?

Thanks to my awesome reviewers!

Snapshot: Snapshot: Jenny looking at the offices below her with a look on her face best described as a that sick-to-your-stomach kind of worry.

"She can make time." Director Jenny Shepard glanced over her reading glasses and at the closed door of her office, knowing it wouldn't stay closed much longer.

BANG! She was right, the door was hurled back and hit the wall with such force that it rattled the glasses in the cabinet next to her.

It was a rare occasion when Gibbs really lost his temper. Today, however, seemed to one of those rare days. "Good evening Jethro. I'm assuming from your attitude that you've met your new agents."

"I don't need any new agents, I have three perfectly good ones working for me right now," Gibbs growled.

Placing her glasses on the desk in front of her, she seemed to ignore Gibbs. But looking back at him she said softly, "Right now, you have one agent. You and DiNozzo can't do everything. Rodríguez and Allen are here to help you. They are two of the best people in the Miami office."

Gibbs wasn't looking very impressed. He actually looked like he wanted to hurt someone…but he did value his job (and although he'd never admit it, his life), "They're temporary," without waiting for confirmation, he stalked from the office, leaving Jenny with a half-smile of victory on her face.

Glancing at her watch, she sighed. It was ten thirty and the agents had been missing for approximately seven and a half hours. She knew that chances of finding missing persons alive after twenty-four hours seriously decreased. She shook her head in an attempt to expel the thought from her mind, she wasn't about to lose two of her best agents.

"From the reports, the Marine was Corporal Patricia Lee, age 32. Until she was found dead, she had a spotless record."

Rodríguez shuffled the papers in her hand; "She was on a three day leave for 'personal' reasons…she wasn't due back at work until the day after tomorrow."

Her partner nodded and spoke with a surprising thick and soft Southern accent, "And from her location, she was probably heading to the house with the groceries. So she was probably tied up with whatever was going on with the kids."

"Rule number eight, never take anything for granted," Gibbs said and he moved past the duo that stood looking at a picture of the marine on the TV screen. Digging through a pile of papers on his desk, Gibbs cursed under his breath, "I want to know every single thing Corporal Lee did the day she was killed."

Allen grinned knowing that somewhere, a small battle had been won, "Yes sir."

His partner muttered something under her breath but Gibbs was already out of the office and heading down talk with Abby, cursing the day this was turning out to be.

The two new looked rather pleased with them selves, however. They had just passed the first Gibbs test. They were staying.

Walking into the lab, Gibbs cringed at the level of the screaming (or what Abby considered music). Punching random buttons on the CD player, Gibbs managed to successfully lower the volume.

"Whatcha got for me Abby?" Gibbs asked, handing the Goth an extra large Caf-Pow.

Abby sighed, "Well, I got a positive match on the blood found on the back steps of the house. It matches Ziva's. I also got a match on the bullets we pulled from the wood casing by the door."

Pounding on her keyboard with more force than usual, Abby pulled up an image that Gibbs found quite odd. It was some sort of pistol, but there was something off with it, "What is that?"

"It's the Metal Storm's O'Dwyer Variable Lethality Law Enforcement pistol. Cited as the world's most advanced pistol, it's completely electronic and it can lay down over a million rounds per minute."

Even Gibbs was wowed by this little tidbit, but it didn't explain where Ziva went. There wasn't enough blood for her to be seriously injured…so where was she?

"Thanks Abs," Gibbs said as he stalked from the lab, punching the elevator button with much more force than what was needed.

Standing in the direct center of the elevator, Gibbs reran the entire morning through his head for the nine billionth time. They followed procedure, they had done every single thing by the book. And yet some how, Tim McGee had disappeared somewhere along the side of the house and Ziva had disappeared somewhere in the backyard while chasing after a very nondescript suspect.

The elevator dinged open and Gibbs headed to the bullpen where his three agents sat, Agents DiNozzo, Allen, and Rodríguez, all staring each other down.

"Boss!" Tony said, popping up from his seat.

"DiNozzo, glad you could finally make it back," Gibbs really didn't sound glad in the least bit.

An awkward silence descended over the crowd, no one was sure what Tony had done to offend Gibbs. Agent Allen was the first to break the silence, "Well, we should all get back to work."

Rodríguez leaned over her partner to point at something on the screen, and he nodded and scribbled something on a sheet of paper. The two worked well together and DiNozzo briefly wondered if they were sleeping together.

Staring at the two, he could easily replace them with himself and Ziva…did people think they were sleeping together? That thought, however, was completely absurd. Tony shook his head and tried to focus on Gibbs, who he just realized was talking to him, "…get a couple hours of sleep. Be back by five."

"On it, boss," Tony said, glancing at his watch (which read just after ten). Exiting the bullpen with slumping shoulders, he kind of looked like someone who had had been beaten and broken. And it was partly true; broken but not beaten.

Tony didn't make it home that night though. And not in the way you are thinking either. He sat in the darkness of the parking garage and thought of where his friends were spending their night. He decided to go back up and help with the case, but he never got out of the car. Stress with the temptation of sleep can be too much sometimes.

Jenny stood looking down at the NCIS, watching as DiNozzo sulked from the room, wondering why Gibbs had sent him home; they pulled all-nighters on a regular basis. Everything was a little off with this case; suddenly the simplest things needed more force and more speed to function. Watching the elevator doors close, she could only think of one truly accurate reason he would do this; he was getting ready for a long, long weekend. She had a feeling that nobody else would be going home any time soon.

Snapshot: Jenny looking at the offices below her with a look on her face best described as a that sick-to-your-stomach kind of worry.

This seems really choppy to me…what do you think? I won't have my laptop over Christmas break, but I will attempt to update at least…TWO more times.

Love,

Agent Striker