Sharing

Tony shifted in the passenger seat for what seemed like the thousandth time. Their investigation at the hotel had turned up exactly zero leads… not that either he or Gibbs were surprised. There was nothing in the Lieutenant's room, nothing seen by any of the guests – not even the battle the two men witnessed. Every single person in that hotel had been so exhausted that night, they'd gone to sleep early.

Gibbs had sent Ziva and McGee back to DC early, telling them to follow up with the Lieutenant's family and work life. He didn't think they'd find anything, but they had to go through the motions.

Gibbs glanced over at his second as he adjusted his seat belt yet again. "What's on your mind?" he asked mildly.

Tony huffed noisily. "This ruins our streak. We haven't had a case go cold in what – over a year?"

Gibbs raised an eyebrow. "That really what's bothering you?"

Tony sighed and turned to look at Gibbs. "Maybe fifteen, twenty percent. The rest is that… thing. The book. How the hell are we going to explain this to Abby?"

Gibbs shrugged and changed lanes, ignoring the blare of the horn from the car he cut off. "We tell her the truth."

"Really?"

"Sure. If anyone is going to accept it, she will."

Tony laughed quietly. "She's gonna flip."

They fell silent for a while, until they were getting close to the Navy Yard. "Think I wanna bring Ducky in on this too," Gibbs said.

"Okay. Ducky's cool."

"We may have to tell Abby about us. You good with that?"

Tony looked down, picking at his pant leg. "She's either gonna be pissed or be thrilled."

"Probably both."

"At once," Tony said, a slight smile on his face.

Later that day, Gibbs went down to Autopsy to get an update, while Tony continued to dive into the Lieutenant's life with the rest of the team. "Hey, Duck."

"Jethro! You're just in time… Mr. Palmer is putting the finishing touches on Lieutenant Conrad."

"Cause of death the arrow?"

"Indeed. Otherwise the man was in perfect health – perhaps almost too perfect."

"How d'ya mean?"

"According to his file, John Conrad was thirty-nine. When we performed the usual biochemical tests on his internal organs, however, he appeared to be a good ten years younger."

"Health nut?"

Ducky looked down at the body, considering. "Perhaps. His stomach contents included prodigious amounts of fast food, but that could be an anomaly." He turned toward Gibbs. "I am sorry we don't have more for you, Jethro. Other than the silver arrow, there's simply nothing to go on. No drug or alcohol use in evidence, no other visible injuries."

Gibbs nodded, looking at the body. "Team's turning up nothing. Looks like this one's going nowhere fast."

"That's a disappointment… not to mention unusual."

"Happens sometimes. Listen, you free for dinner tonight? My place?"

Ducky smiled. "Quite. What's the occasion?"

"Need some advice… got a bit of a situation, think maybe you and Abby can help us out."

"Have you finally told her about the two of you?"

"Not yet… have a feeling that's coming soon."

Meanwhile, Tony had gone to Abby's lab. He handed her a Caf-Pow with a flourish; she looked at it, then shook her head.

Tony reached out and laid the back of his hand against her forehead. "You feeling okay, Abs?"

She leaned in to his side. "I'm fine. I just don't deserve caffeinated goodness." She pointed accusingly at the arrow lying on the table. "I can't get anything out of this. I know its chemical composition, which is a cement core surrounded by ninety four percent silver, five percent copper, and one percent trace elements. This arrow was built for momentum, not speed… the victim's skull might as well have not been there. I'm surprised it didn't go all the way through his head… probably he was shot from a really long distance, which means someone is one hell of a marksman. I can't find any manufacturer for this arrow, which means it was likely homemade, so I can't track it down. There's no similar arrow used in any crime in any database I search. No fingerprints. I can't give you guys a lead."

"You still get a Caf-Pow for trying, Abby. We're not having any luck either."

Abby pursed her lips, then accepted the offering, slurping about a quarter of it down before she asked Tony, "So what's next?"

"Next is you and me and Ducky if he can come at Gibbs' place tonight… we need to talk to you two."

Her eyes widened. "Team meeting?"

"No, just the four of us. Tim and Ziva don't need to be there this time."

Abby's eyes narrowed. "So, they don't know about it, do they?"

"Nope, and we'd kind of like to keep it that way. Don't want hurt feelings."

"You're being awfully free with that 'we,' aren't you?"

Tony sighed. "It fits."

Abby stared at him for a moment, her smile slowly growing. "Does this mean what I think it means?"

"Not a mind reader, don't know what you're thinking." Tony gave her a big smile.

She snorted. "Those don't work on me, buster. That's okay, I'll use my powers of observation tonight. What time?"

"Seven thirty good for you?"

She slurped up some more Caf-Pow. "Yup. Should I bring anything?"

"Nah, we'll order in."

"There's that 'we' again."

Tony impulsively pulled her into a hug, then left the lab, with Abby staring after him in surprise.

After dinner, they settled in the living room, Abby curled up on the couch next to Gibbs, Ducky and Tony seated in arm chairs. Tony and Gibbs exchanged a long, silent look, and then Tony began. "So, last September, Gibbs and I went out to this hotel, investigating Petty Officer Riggs' murder…"

Ducky and Abby were fascinated by the story, although at first Ducky had a hard time believing them. He remained dubious, even after Abby reminded him that the knife with the Petty Officer's blood had also had that of a woman. "I am surprised, Jethro, that you didn't pursue the investigation into her death as well."

Gibbs ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. "I know, Duck. Believe me… I've kicked myself over that more than a few times." He looked at Tony, then held out his hand. Tony hesitated, then leaned forward and took it in his own, interlacing their fingers. "Couldn't risk the same thing happening to Tony, not when we were finally starting to realize we had something more than friendship. I did pass the information on to the right jurisdiction after Abby got the ID."

Tony glanced at Abby, who stared at their joined hands, squealed delightedly, then quickly planted a kiss on Gibbs' cheek. She jumped up, did the same to Tony, then punched him in the arm before sitting back down on the couch. She punched Gibbs' arm too, then snuggled into his side. "I'm so happy for you guys… but if you'd waited one more month, I would have won the pool."

"Well," Tony began, "it kinda depends on exactly what the pool was about. See, it wasn't until October that we -" He was abruptly cut off when Gibbs pulled on the hand he held, moving Tony close enough to receive a thwack on the head with his other hand. Tony grinned at him and mimed zipping his lips shut. Gibbs shook his head, smiling, and told him to get on with it. Abby and Ducky exchanged glances and smiles.

Tony described what happened at the warehouse. Abby was upset about the dogs; there were angry tears in her eyes. "We need to do something!"

"What would you suggest, Abigail?" Ducky asked her gently.

"I have a friend who knows` a medium. Give me the address, and I'll get him over there – he can try to help them cross over."

"We'll see, Abs," Gibbs said. "Dangerous situation. Those dogs killed Petty Officer Jonas Bartlett."

"We still have to do something."

Then the situation with the Water Wench. Ducky and Abby were both startled by that one. "A kelpie?" Ducky exclaimed, looking very surprised. "What would such a creature be doing in America?"

"Don't they usually appear as horses?" Abby asked him.

"Yes, but that would be to lure children. Legend says they could take the form of a beautiful woman to lure unwary adult men."

"I wasn't lured," Tony said. "I was grabbed."

"You're lucky you survived the encounter."

"Yeah."

"Then there's what happened last night," Gibbs said, wanting to avoid thinking about Tony almost dying.

Tony described the battle they witnessed, the supposed vampire that confronted them, and the book. Gibbs got up, went to the bookshelf, and brought the book back, handing it to Ducky, who took it and joined Abby on the couch so they could both look at it. Gibbs sat in the chair opposite Tony.

"Wow," Abby breathed, "maybe we're looking at something from the spirit realm! Wisdom from the afterlife!"

"I hate to disagree with you, my dear, but I do believe this is Old Irish."

"Aw, really?"

"Yes… eighth or ninth century, if memory serves."

Tony leaned forward. "Can you tell us what it says?"

Ducky laughed. "My dear boy, the fact that I recognize it doesn't mean I can actually read it!"

"Where did you learn to recognize it?" Abby asked.

"At university. I had a roommate who majored in the classics. I used to help him study, and as a result picked up quite a bit of the basics."

"So how are we going to find out what it says?" Tony demanded.

Abby got up and ran to her bag, pulling out a laptop. The she hesitated. "Do you have Wi-Fi, Gibbs?"

He nodded. "Had to get it, with Tony spending so much time here."

"Awesome." Within a few minutes, she was typing furiously. "Yep, here we go…" She looked up at them all triumphantly. "Found an open access translator… some university in Europe. Austria? Anyway – I can scan all the pages in, get a translation, probably by tomorrow night?"

Gibbs and Tony looked at each other, then back at her. Tony nodded slowly. "Would be awfully nice to find out why all this keeps happening."

Abby nodded eagerly. "I can take the day off… HR's been on my case 'cause I have so many days piled up."

Gibbs hesitated. Tony got up and went to him, putting his hand on his shoulder. "She's already processed the arrow, Jethro. We've got nothing else for her. Might as well try to go after this from another angle."

Abby nodded enthusiastically, looking at Gibbs with wide eyes. He looked at the book in Ducky's hands, then nodded. "Yeah. Do it."

Ducky closed the book and handed it to her. "I for one would very much like to be present for the reveal," he commented.

"Of course, Duck. Tomorrow, same time, unless we catch a new case?"

"Dispatch won't likely assign us anything," Tony offered. "It'll be another few days before we can say we've come up empty on Conrad's murder."

Abby shut down her laptop and got ready to leave, clearly excited to get started. Gibbs went to her and pulled her into a hug. "Don't work all night, Abs. Waited this long, don't have to get it all tomorrow."

Abby returned the hug. "Don't worry, I want my brain firing on all cylinders for this one." She raised her lips to his ear, whispering. "Good for you, getting Tony. He'll make you happy, Bossman."

"Already does, Abs."

She pulled away, giving him a brilliant smile. She hugged Tony and Ducky, then grabbed her bag and left.

Ducky was pulling on his jacket. "You two will be careful, won't you? There appear to be some strange forces at work, and for some reason they seem to be focused on you."

"We noticed," Tony replied unhappily.

"Not all bad, Tone," Gibbs commented. "Got us together, didn't it?"

Tony shot him a mock glare, then smiled. "Yeah, and I can't complain about that."

Ducky watched them look at each other, and smiled. "I continue to be very pleased for you both. You're good for each other."

"Thanks, Duck." Gibbs walked him to the door, where they spoke briefly.

Tony went to the kitchen to begin cleaning up. He heard the front door open and shut, then Gibbs joined him, carrying some of the glasses and bottles from the living room.

"That went well," Gibbs said.

"Yeah." Tony hesitated, then shut off the water, put down the sponge and soapy dishes, and turned to him, leaning against the counter. "Can't decide if I'm anticipating or dreading hearing what Abby finds out."

Gibbs chuckled softly. "Yeah, I'm with you." He motioned toward the sink and picked up a dish towel. "Wash. I'll dry."

Tony smiled and went back to work. "Guess it'll be good to know something… be prepared. In case this stuff keeps happening."

Gibbs nodded, leaning in to Tony for a moment before taking the dish out of his hands and drying it.

Outside, hiding in the bushes lining the driveway, a large wolf crouched. It had watched the woman and the old man drive off, then refocused on the house, growling softly as it breathed.