A/N Sorry for the last chapter. I wrote it with paragraph breaks but I had to copy and paste it to upload it and I didn't catch the mistake when I uploaded the story.

After leaving the evidence garage, Gibbs was in the elevator by himself. Frustrated and irritated he flipped the emergency stop switch, stopping the elevator somewhere between the first and second floor. He could feel tears in his eyes again and he put his arm in front of him and leaned against the closed door of the elevator. He rubbed his eyes trying to make himself focus on the case.

His dad was dead from natural causes. There was no changing that. And with that known Gibbs had to focus on who the foxtrot killed the Admiral. Gibbs stood up straight again taking his hand off the door. He took a deep breath, and exhaled loudly. He closed his eyes in attempt to take everything he knew about the murder and make it make sense so he could run through all the possibilities to find evidence that would link them to the killer.

He first focused on the Admirals body, the trajectory of the bullet in the brain cavity. Then he focused on the bullet. Why would someone take the bullet? Gibbs shook his head at the words in his mind as they brought up a memory.

Leroy Gibbs was ten years old. He had walked to the General Store from school, and found it empty. Neither LJ nor his dad were behind the counter or in aisles. Leroy dropped his frayed and scratched school books on the table in front of the counter and seized the opportunity of the lifetime. He looked all around the room to see that the coast was clear and then slowly made his way behind the counter.

Stepping on a box full of Marvel Comics, the ten year old boy used both his hands and lifted the family's Winchester off its perch on the wall. He smiled a little, feeling a small victory. Leroy put his left hand on the barrel and his right hand in the rim behind the trigger. He brought the butt to his shoulder and looked down the length of the barrel through the sight. He smiled again imagining a deer.

He was taking aim when he felt a hard thump on his back below his neck and in between his shoulders. It hurt enough right away for Leroy to know that it would bruise.

Leroy quickly spun around and before Leroy knew what was happening, the Winchester was ripped from his hands by his dad. "What in the hell are you doing son? You're going to kill someone!" Leroy stood with his feet frozen to the floor. He had never seen his father so angry before and he studied his father's face for a split second thinking his dad was only yelling to scare him and wasn't really mad. But his dad's eyes and tone told Leroy that his dad was really angry. The boy looked at his father, "I only wanted to hold it! Why can't I shoot it? Mom doesn't care if I shoot a BB gun!"

Gibbs stopped replaying his memory and threw a punch at the hard cold wall to Gibbs left. It was a hard punch and a shiver of pain shot through his arm. Gibbs brought his right arm to his chest and held it in his left hand, he exhaled again and cursed himself for throwing the punch. Finally he forcibly switched the emergency stop switch and the elevator continued on its way back up. Gibbs got off the elevator and was holding his right hand up with his left.

He was annoyed when he saw Ducky sitting at his desk in the squad room. Ducky was the only person in the world that had an ability to read Gibbs and Ducky had stitched him up and set enough of Gibbs broken fingers to know what Gibbs had just done. He watched his friend from afar and saw that Ducky hadn't seen him yet, so he quickly took the less used path around the bullpen on the outside.

His cover was blown though when another agent called his name, "Agent Gibbs! I need a Senior Agent to sign this threat assessment…"

Gibbs stared at the thirty something agent who blocked his path. The agent was oblivious to Gibbs current status and carried on in her normal happy way. She trailed off though when she realized that Gibbs was distracted and wanted her to move. "It's not important now." She said and walked away.

Gibbs continued on his way but Ducky had heard Gibbs name called and was waiting for him at the entrance to the bullpen. "Jethro we need to talk."

"Uh huh." Gibbs walked quickly passed his friend and to his desk. With his left hand Gibbs opened the drawer with his badge and gun and pulled them out. Ducky was neither blind nor oblivious and saw that Gibbs was purposely using his left as he holstered his weapon and clipped on his badge.

As Gibbs passed him again, Ducky grabbed his right wrist as if to get his attention, but in reality Ducky was testing Gibbs. Gibbs looked down at his friends hand and pulled his hand away. He disguised every inch of body to hide the pain resonating throughout his nervous system. Ducky though knew his friend and followed his friend persistently.

"Jethro. Have you made any plans for your father's funeral?" Gibbs was walking to the other elevator now and said nothing. He knew that Ducky was on to him about his hand and felt a slight pang of guilt for doing this to Ducky of all people, but Gibbs just wanted to get over his dad now and solve the case. Plus he wanted left alone.

The elevator didn't open when Gibbs pushed the call button and Gibbs muttered impatiently. The ME stood next to his friend looking up to study him. It was clear that Jethro was flustered and distracted and Ducky decided to leave him be at the moment. Finally the car came and the two men stood to the side letting three people off. When it was clear they went in the elevator, Gibbs considered making Ducky stay out but he decided against it.

The car moaned and creaked but started to move. It was Ducky who flipped the emergency switch. "What exactly did you do your right hand?" Ducky asked, sternly. It was the same tone Ducky used when threatening to not use a local anesthetic next time Gibbs pulled his stitches and needed sewn up again. Gibbs looked at his hand and looked at the wall to his left. He forced a smile, creating a red herring for Ducky, "Better the elevator than Vance."

Ducky rolled his eyes. "You're using this case to ignore your father's death." Gibbs looked up at the ceiling and rolled his eyes too.

He shouted, "No, Ducky, I'm doing my job!" Ducky went silent and looked at his feet. "Why are we doing this? We were fine the last time we saw each other."

"I'm sorry, Jethro. I'm pushing you and I shouldn't."

"Apology accepted." Gibbs pointed at the stop switch and Ducky reached over and flipped it, sending the elevator on its way. Two seconds went by and Gibbs stopped the elevator again.

Ducky looked at his friend quizzically. Gibbs spoke motioning with his hands, "You shoot someone, but you move the body forward to take the bullet. Why?"

Ducky put his hands in his pockets, "Well some killers have been known to freeze when they realize what they've done and in a state of panic they go around collect as much evidence as they can for fear of being caught. However given the almost perfect gunshot wound and the lack of evidence I'd say our killer wanted a souvenir."

Gibbs cocked his head. He should have thought of that.