Gibbs sat at his desk an hour after snapping his phone shut on Tim and practically punching the button that got the elevator going, out of pure frustration. He had marched back here with a fierce stride and had radiated nothing but anger ever since; something that told his other agents that they needed to get on with what they were doing in a way that wouldn't make him rain his wrath down on them.

For the first time in a a very long time, the squad room was completely silent. There was no banter, no jokes and no general chit chat that at any other time would have been tolerated. It un-nerved him to the degree that he glanced up at Tony and Ziva to check on them, and noticed the grim faces and frustration that seemed to roll off them in waves at what they were working on. His team was now soaking in own negative emotions while they struggled to get through the computer side of the invesitigation.

This stirred the turbulent anger within him because he knew for a fact that they were working on something that Tim would normally do and it was taking longer get the information that they needed. Shaking his head, Gibbs turned back to his emails and clicked the 'new' button so he could send Vance an email but before he even typed anything; his phone rang on his desk and interrupted his focus. With a scowl, he grabbed it up and flipped it open with such ferocity, that his agents though it was going to snap in two.

"Yeah, Gibbs."

"Agent Gibbs?" An unfamiliar, hesitant voice trilled through the phone.

"Who wants to know?" Gibbs demanded back with a harsh bite at the interruption.

"This is Paul down at the Front Entrance. There's a Metro cop down here who says he needs to talk to you. Says it's about one of your agents."

"What does he want? If it's not important then tell him to leave his phone number and I'll call him later."

"Sir, he won't tell me what it's about but he's adamant that he needs to speak to you and says It's very important."

"I'll be right there." Gibbs tried to school his anger and managed to answer with a little less vehemence; after all, Paul was one of the new guys and couldn't have been more than 25 and In all honesty, the kid was just doing his job and it wasn't his fault.

Gibbs strode off to the elevator and waited until the doors opened. As they closed, he caught sight of the look that Tony and Ziva gave each other and shook his head….Damn it! Those two don't miss a trick. His aggravation steadily built up as he walked silently to the front entrance. There was just so much swirling through his mind and the fact that he kept being interrupted for stupid, menial things was starting to grate on his last nerve. He soon made it to the security office and saw Paul standing at the front door talking to what looked like one of the LEO's that had been on the scene the other day.

"Paul." Gibbs greeted the security guard with a clipped tone that relayed his frustration at being called down.

"Yes, Sir. Officer Miller, here, says he needs to talk to you, Agent Gibbs."

Gibbs scrutinized the Police Officer that had taken time out of his day to come and see him and shook his head as his memory served him well. "You were at the crime scene yesterday?"

"Only briefly, Agent Gibbs. My partner was the one who found the Marine and called it in. I just stopped by to make sure he was alright and to offer support."

"Right. I understand you're here to talk to me about one of my Agents." Gibbs wasn't in the mood for beating round the bush and got straight to the point.

"Yes, Sir. I wanted to talk to you about a special Agent…." Officer Miller took out his notebook to check on the name "Tim McGee. I sto…."

"Ok, let's take this outside." Gibbs wanted to take this conversation away from prying ears, knowing whatever this was about, needed to be discussed privately. McGee already had enough problems with his career at the moment without whatever this was about getting spread around.

Gibbs led the way with his normal clipped pace and the officer had no choice but to keep up. It wasn't until they were a good distance away from prying eyes and listening ears, that Gibbs finally turned round and faced the man.

"What's this about? You come here to talk about my agent without ringing first. He in trouble?"

"You Agent Tim McGee's direct superior?"

"Yeah, so you gonna tell me what the problem is with him or are you just wasting my time, Officer Miller." Gibbs tried to inject a warning into his tone to let the man know that if this was nothing, then he was going to come down on him like a ton of bricks.

"He's not really in trouble, but there is something I need to discuss with you about him, Sir."

"Then I suggest you spit it out, Officer."

"I stopped him for speeding yesterday. Seems he was just coming from that scene you were working. I've gotta tell you , he was really tearing down the road and when I got him stopped, he was visibly upset about something. Seemed distracted, too."

"You didn't come here to tell me my agent got a speeding ticket or that you think he was upset." Gibbs' incredulous tone was emphasized by his dangerous narrowed eyes; surely he hadn't been pulled away from a case that needs solving for this.

"No, Sir. I came here to tell you that I believe he used his badge to get out of the ticket and that it was completely inappropriate for him to do that. I could get in a lot of trouble for letting something like this slide. I'm not willing to do that."

"For the record, Agent McGee would not deliberately use his badge to get out of a ticket. So, I'd advise you to re-evaluate exactly what it is that took place during your traffic stop yesterday. I will check into this." Gibbs warned angrily. "But I won't have my agent targeted or framed by your department. Do I make myself clear?"

Truth be told he was more angry with himself than he was at this cop. This was twice in one day McGee had obviously tried to tell him about this and both times, Gibbs had blown him off. And, to make matters worse, his anger and impatience at what he'd inaccurately judged as intrusions on Tim's part, had probably blown any chance he had to talk to the young man about the really important problem they were facing; his suspension.

"Yes, Sir."

"Now that's settled, you wanna tell me how the hell you jumped to that conclusion, Officer."

"Sir, I don't just jump to conclusions and have got evidenc…"

"Listen! I am in the middle of a damn case that needs solving…as you well know. The fact that I am standing here talking to you is wasting what little time I do have, so how about you quit beatin' around the bush and get to the point!" Gibbs' anger flared.

"Yes, Sir. Sorry. I didn't think there was anything wrong until I spoke to my partner. I happened to mention stopping Agent McGee as he left the scene and he didn't remember the name. As we were talking, it struck me that your people wouldn't be going to and from crime scenes in a Porsch Boxster" The agent stopped and looked sheepishly up at Gibbs.

"And?"

"Jenkins, my partner, said you all turned up in the Van. He had to file a report with the chief so he wrote down the names of everyone who worked the scene; Agent McGee's name wasn't on the list, Agent Gibbs , which makes me think he's used his status here at NCIS to dodge the ticket. He got a written warning and he signed it, but that's not gonna cut it with my boss. As I already told you, I could get in big trouble for not report that."

"Damn it! Out of all my agents, McGee is the one that wouldn't do something like this." Gibbs ran a hand through his hair. "I want you to call in and tell your boss that you've been detained at NCIS and won't be free for another hour."

"Agent Gibbs, I'm on duty and don't know whether or not they will authorize that." Miller stood firm and tried not to buckle under the glare that Gibbs shot his way.

"Officer Jenkins, you don't have a choice. Now, you wanted to report this, well, that's what you're gonna do, to the Director. Now, you can call and explain this to your boss or I'll let my Director do it for you. But, either way, you're reporting this to the right person so you can't accuse us of covering this up."

Officer Miller pulled his radio out of the holder on his shoulder and reported back to control that he would be unavailable for an hour; it wasn't long before he replaced it and turned his attention back to Gibbs.

"You've got an hour Agent Gibbs. Beyond that and the chief is going to be looking for reasons to file a complaint about the fact that we are short staffed and you are keeping me away from my job."

"You should have thought about that before comin' here! Seeing as we're both busy, how about we get going rather than getting into a pissing contest about whether or not you have the time to do what it is you came here to do?."

"Where are we going, exactly?"

"I don't like repeating myself, Officer Miller? If you weren't listening the first time I told you, nuthin' I can do about that"

"Yes, sir. For the record, I'm not happy about this."

"Yeah?, Well, then I guess that makes us even. Look at it this way, as soon as we're done, you can get outta here and I can get some work done."

They approached the security office and Gibbs waited for the LEO to sign in before they both made their way through the building to the Director's office. Once there, Gibbs barged his way in with the less than happy cop trailing sheepishly behind.

"Gibbs. I wasn't aware of us scheduling a meeting today. And look! This time you brought company. How nice. To what do I owe this honor?" Vance's sarcasm didn't go un-noticed and he took pleasure in the fact that it was strong enough to elicit a glare out of Gibbs and caused the visitor to blanch.

"This is Officer Miller. He's got something to say that you need to hear." Gibbs said before taking a seat in his favorite spot; the corner where he could almost be overlooked but definitely hear everything.

The officer squirmed uncomfortably as he finished giving his report on what had happened with Tim. He stood there silently waiting for the two men to question him and was surprised when Vance turned his gaze on Gibbs.

"You knew about this?"

"No. McGee tried to tell me when he called earlier this morning, but I was driving and I hung up on him. He called Tony a little while ago and gave him a message for me. I called him right back but as soon as he said it was about a traffic ticket, I told him he was wasting my time and I hung up on him."

"Because you didn't figure it was anything worth reporting." Vance cocked his head slightly at the statement before sitting back and resting his elbows on his chair so that he could lace his fingers in front of him.

"Because I know McGee. He wouldn't use his badge to get out of an arrest much less a speeding ticket, Leon! Which made him calling me about it unnecessary, and a waste of my time."

For a long tense minute, Vance and Gibbs stared each other until finally Vance looked over to the Officer.

"Re-write Agent McGee the ticket, Officer Miller."

"Excuse me?" Miller looked over at the man in front of him and frowned. "I don't understand."

"You heard him. Re-write the ticket." Gibbs instructed the Officer.

"Okay then." Miller pulled out his pad and quickly wrote the ticket out for speeding exactly as it should have been written when he'd pulled Tim over. He handed it to the Director nervously. "You know, it's supposed to be signed by the person getting the ticket."

"You said you gave him a written warning and had him sign it, right?" Gibbs asked.

"Yes, Sir."

"Attach a copy of that to this one."

"I would need to keep a copy, Sir."

Vance hit a button on his desk phone and waited patiently for his secretary to answer.

"Yes, Sir."

"Ms Cook, could you come in here please?" Vance's calm demeanor was starting to make Miller feel uncomfortable but all he could do was sit and wait patiently to see where this was going.

"Of course, Sir." The line went dead, leaving them all sitting there silently waiting for Pam to arrive. As she entered the Director's Office and went to the desk without so much as looking at either of Vance's visitors, Officer Miller was struck by how much her professionalism shined.

"We need two copies of these papers, Miss Cook." Vance handed the tickets to Pam. "Please copy these in triplicate and bring the through to me when you're done."

"Yes, Sir." Pam took the papers and walked out to the photo copier just outside her office. As the machine ran the copies of the document, she glanced at them and felt her breath hitch as it caught in her throat.

"Tim" she whispered as she quickly let her eyes run over the rest of the documents before scooping the copies from the tray and double-timing her steps back to Vance's office. She knocked on his door before entering and walking over to her boss' desk to hand back the paperwork.

"Thank you. Hold on a minute." Vance instructed Pam as he sifted through the papers she had given him.

He separated the copies and handed one set back to Pam. "Mail these to Agent McGee's address, immediately."

"Right away, Sir." Pam did her best to keep a straight face despite the effort it took her to hold on to her treasured ability to remain on a professional, unattached level no matter what she was dealing with on the job. She had to admit to finding it difficult this time since this involved someone she loved dearly and as she turned toward the door, the sorrow she was feeling for Tim laid heavily in her heart. Things just kept getting worse for him. When would they get better?

Gibbs had been watching Vance's Assistant like a hawk since she'd come back in the room with the copies made. He noticed that something about her demeanor had changed slightly; not enough to be outright noticeable, except to an eagle eye, like himself, but something had changed and it had caught Gibbs' attention. He had only needed that split second that it took Ms. Cook to lose her iron grip on the façade that she'd had in place, to see that for some reason, this situation had upset her.

He didn't even know her, but he did know was how to read people's expressions and hers plainly said this had hit her personally. What the hell was up with that? Gibbs mentally shook his head, feeling more confused about what was going on. This runs deeper than I thought and no matter what, I'm gonna find out exactly what the hell is going on with McGee.