Author's Note: Hey guys, what's going on? Sorry it took me a while to put this chapter up. A LOT of stuff going on over at my end...which isn't 'much' at the same time which means I'm not even bragging. Anyway, I could be coming up on a job (finally-been out of work since May. The first and the LAST time I ever walk off a job WITHOUT giving a two weeks notice-one of the worst mistakes anybody could make for a job) and classes started on the 2nd. Film History Post 1940's and...Introduction into Producing. I originally had a Sound & Foley class, but I couldn't afford to purchase 700 dollars worth of equipment. Sigh...a lot of shit going on...more bad and dysfunctional than good and...average? Yeah-all that not-so-good stuff, but the best thing you can do is keep on chuggin' along...

Anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter. I hope that I didn't make too many spelling/grammar errors and...three cheers for 'possibly' a good season 8 of NCIS that is approaching! If it's anything like season 7, I swear I'll groan more than I'll cheer, but I'll still watch it anyway.

Later Days-GEEK!

Chapter 32: Heat

Fornell centers on breaking the familiar man that stares back at him; making his features hard and cold to himself, yet they only cause Gibbs to smirk.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Jethro."

"Already done, Tobias." One of his battered hands extends and rests on top of the table.

"How does it feel to be on the opposite end of the table?"

"I'm on the opposite end?" He shrugs casually. "Thought I was right where I'm supposed to be…just a table…just a chair…just a room…" He finishes with a heck. "Just an investigation on my turf, Tobias."

Fornell falls back with an eye roll. Straightening his shoulders, he walks around the room; enjoying the extra room he now has that Doron Miriam has vacated for a while.

"You make it seem like I'm out to get ya, Jethro." He turns on his heel and continues to walk in the other direction. "I'm only here to do my job-I'm only here to figure out if your entire team and your Director should be hauled out of here only to be put on the outside and on your asses."

"You'd like that picture, Tobias."

"Picture perfect." He admits; a questionable satisfaction is questionably satisfied.

"Just like your marriage." Gibbs quips. "…right?"

A handful of smugness is lost on Fornell's part, but he puts it aside to deal with what is most important. "I'm listening."

"I thought that was my job-I'm the one that asked the question."

"Cut the crap, Gibbs-let's get to it."

Leaning forward, Gibbs scoots his behind further into the seat until it reaches the end; his back pressing firmly against the back of the chair. "What do you want to know?"

"Everything."

Gibbs chuckles at his quick and impossible answer even though there is no real hilarity concerning the issue.

"I don't know what you want me to say, Tobias. Director Shepard made a call I wasn't aware of. Agent DiNozzo made a move I wasn't aware of-"

"So you are speaking against-"

His deepened stare cuts Fornell right off. "I'm not going against them-I'm not going against my team. I'm only telling you the truth. If DiNozzo had come to me with honesty, I would have shut him down-I would have shut it down."

"You never would have went looking for Ziva?"

"Not…'never'…" He begins to feel his head swell, but he continues knowing he needs to make his point now in case he never gets another chance to. "…eventually I would have went looking for her…we all would have, but we would have done it correctly."

Fornell almost giggles at this confession. "On the record I know how you make it all seem, Jethro…but off the record? I know the way it really is."

"…what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Being correct might be a blip on your teams radar once in a while, but as something that is constant?

Gibbs begins to shake his head from side to side; desperately trying to keep his patience steady.

"No-it never works that way for Team Gibbs."

"Bullshit, Tobias-what are you driving at?" He peers deeply at the smaller man.

"I'm driving at your bullshit, Jethro. Looking for Ziva would never be correct-she no longer served the Agency." He watches as Gibbs shuts his eyes slowly. "I've got you there and you know that. Looking for her would cost time and resources you aren't allowed to use when and how you see fit. I mean-come on, who's to say that this wasn't a plan from the start? DiNozzo breaks the chain of command, the top of the chain grants his request-here comes you, you're extremely pissed off, if not, a tad bit miffed, yet you remember you need a partner so you grab the only field agent you've got left-"

Gibbs pushes himself out from under the table.

"Now you're wandering the streets of Tel Aviv looking for someone you couldn't possibly find unless you know something." He pauses. "Of course you know something-you're in the hands of Director David now and he wants you dead for killing his only son, but you keep this from McGee because you feel he isn't at the level of understanding or handling such a deadly game."

He rises out of his chair slowly; his head hanging low as he takes everything Fornell has to give to him.

"Gotta keep your slate clean, though…right?" He gives him a chance to answer, but Gibbs does not. "You wanted this to happen. You wanted to use each member of your team to find her-"

"I NEVER USED MY TEAM!" Gibbs snaps; his face red and puffy.

Fornell huffs for a breath as he keeps a steady stare with the tense man in front of him.

"…if not any of this…then what, Gibbs?" His last name forces past his lips; indicating to Gibbs that Fornell wants answers immediately. "Tell me."

"Shit happened. You got that? SHIT HAPPENED!" He slams the side of his fist onto the table. "DiNozzo got way in over his head. The Director wanted redemption for herself-wanted to find a way to make it up to him after the shit she put him through with 'The Frog', I went after his sorry ass to protect him from coming face to face with Eli David." Gibbs waves an arm in the air. "So I needed help-I needed back up. I took McGee, who else did I have?" He slams the same side of his fist onto the table. "DAMN IT, FORNELL-THAT'S THE TRUTH!"

"Yelling isn't going to make your story any more correct."

He grabs the back of his chair, picking it up quickly and slamming all four legs back into the ground. "FUCK THIS!" Sweat begins to pour on his brow. "You want to take my story and you want to twist it to better suit the fucking FBI? Then do it." He punches the floor with the impaling of the chair legs. "I've got nothing fucking left to tell you." The chair spikes the floor for the third and final time. "Finished."

Fornell watches as he makes his way to the door; his words quickly forming inside his head.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Jethro."

"That's why you're not me, Tobias."

The Tech Pro slightly continues to connect the bottoms of his shoes with the solid floor. He uses the repetition as a need for calmness as inside, his nerves, are all a flutter.

"Three interrogations today and not one has succeeded in telling me anything different." Fornell begins while closing the door. "You better have one hell of a better story, Agent McGee."

He swallows. "Where do I begin?"

"Anywhere your heart desires, Agent McGee…just know that if you withhold any information that I find out later-and I will find out later-every other player on this lopsided football field is going to suffer as well." Fornell smirks. "Begin."

McGee takes a deep breath; gathering his thoughts as he the seconds tick forward.

"I, uh, can't give you much of a better story than my, uh, teammates…" He shakes his head; the atmosphere is shifting into dangerous grounds as he begins to feel trapped and tied. His capture in Tel Aviv making him grow slightly numb. "I-it, it's exactly how Agents DiNozzo, David, and Gibbs, uh, explained-"

"You're not sounding very convincing to me, Agent McGee."

"I, uh, know…but it is the truth…despite how it sounds-I sound." He takes a breath; sweat beginning to form on his skin that is both exposed and covered.

Fornell looks pathetically at McGee; then turns around to stare into the two-way mirror.

"Your boy over here is making me feel a little annoyed!" He hollers rudely. "Not only is he babbling like any idiot, he's trying to pass on bunch of lies."

"They're not lies!" McGee exclaims. "The deaths of Eli David and Michael Rivkin were not planned." His eyes moisten with everything that has happened and is happening to his nerve system. "I swear."

Fornell hums slightly, but never breaks his gaze with McGee.

"Let me ask you something, Agent McGee…" He takes a quick breath of air. "Is there anything you find correct about all that's taken place?"

"We-well, I … I'm not sure exactly what you mean…exactly…" He shuts his eyes for a few seconds.

Sighing, Fornell begins to circle the room; his attention on the bundle of nerves positioned in the center of the room.

"You're the teams golden tech boy, correct?"

McGee swallows. "…I wouldn't exactly call it that…but yes, I guess if we weren't to split hairs on the proper term for someone with my skills, I would very much be the teams 'golden tech boy'." He inhales as his shoulders begin to straighten a bit. "What's that got to do with the case?"

"That's for me to know and for you to eventually figure out." Fornell clears his throat. "I'm assuming you know the quickest way to cover a person's tracks so long as it be on a digital device, am I right?"

"I didn't hack into anyone's computer." McGee automatically states. "I'm not a hacker, I'm an NCIS Special Agent."

"That's not what I asked."

"Yes." His answer is a violent hiss. "I do know how to dispose of evidence when on a computer or some sort of hard-drive."

"Do you know how to enter databases whether they be NCIS' or…any other Agency?"

McGee looks straights through the two-way mirror, hoping for some sort of interruption that will give him a break.

"Answer the question, Agent McGee."

"Yes." He answers quickly, but truthfully. "I do."

"I'm nowhere as knowledgeable as you in the technology field, but I do know that entering into another Agency's database is indeed breaking some sort of protocol-"

"I didn't hack into anyone's computer." McGee stands his ground.

"Never or just for this case in question?"

"…in this case…" He sighs heavily.

"Let me ask you this again, Agent McGee. Do you feel that what has taken place so far, with this case, is correct?"

Ducky holds his breath as the Director wobbles slightly next to him; her shoulder brushing against his lightly.

"He's going to break him, Ducky…" Her voice is a sickening mutter.

"He has no choice, but to answer the question." Ducky explains. "He has no choice, but to be…broken…" He swallows the sickness that tickles the back of his throat.

The younger man opens his mouth to speak, but can not find the strength to utter a single word. Closing his mouth, his eyes follow for a few seconds before they fly open as if the dam that held the pressure of the situation back, has been blasted to shreds.

"Hmmno…" McGee groans.

"Come again, Agent McGee?"

He shakes his head from left to right. "No." His tongue flicks across his bottom lip nervously. "…no…I don't think it was correct."

"That'll be all, Agent McGee." Fornell reaches for the case folder that was left closed all this time.

"I know it was right." He shrugs innocently. "Who else was going to settle this?"

"What exactly needed to be settled?"

"None of your business, Fornell." His eyes darken.

Fornell chuckles. "Easy there, Agent McGee. I may be on your turf, but all of you are on my rules." His voice threatening. "I would watch what else comes out of your mouth before you make matters worse for everyone involved."

"You're not being fair!" He declares. "You've conducted two of your interrogations with a member from Mossad present. You conducted two of your interrogations without a member of Mossad present."

"That's a minor technicality."

"With all due respect…that's bullshit." McGee rises from his chair. "NCIS has no room for bullshit. This team has no room for bullshit."

"You walk out of here and I will hold you in a Federal prison."

"You have no proof to hold me!" McGee argues.

"I'll find proof."

"Damn it…Fornell…" The Director shudders. "What is it that he wants to find?"

"Answers." Ducky says simply. "…and more than one, I am afraid."

Covering her face with one of her hand, she shudders again.

"It is too late to go back now, Director."

"Why did I ever give Tony such approval?" Her shoulders fall. "Jethro was right…I wanted to make myself feel better for the heartbreak I gave to Tony."

"You are going to give Jethro the satisfaction of proving himself correct?" Ducky watches her face grow more serious. "You can't go back, Jenny…what's done is done…"

"…I can't put away an entire team for the rest of their lives!" She whispers harshly.

Ducky frowns at the realization he never saw so clearly before.

"If only Ziva had stayed…" He mutters sadly. "If only…"

"As will we." McGee offers.

"Your team is going to have one hell of a hard time trying to solve a case they are a part of. Nobody is going to buy any of the evidence you present."

The doorknob twists and Gibbs follows; a sternness within his stride. "You're finished, McGee." He jerks his neck. "Let's go."

"You can't interfere with an interrogation, Gibbs-you know that!" Fornell barks.

"You're not supposed to throw questions at one of my Agents when they've got nothing to do with the case." Gibbs reminds the shorter man.

"I'm doing my job."

"Covering tracks? Hacking?" Gibbs shakes his head. "That's got nothing to do with the deaths of Director David and Michael Rivkin."

"No?" Fornell raises his eyebrows. "How the hell did Agent DiNozzo manage to find Lior?"

"What Agent DiNozzo did had nothing to do with Agent McGee." Gibbs growls. "Go, McGee."

"Those two?" Fornell laughs. "Come on, Gibbs-those two bicker until the sun goes down."

"MA-GEE!" Gibbs hollers. "GO, DAMN IT!"

"HE'S NOT GOING ANYWHERE UNTIL I'M FINISHED!" Fornell raises his voice voice. "DAMN IT GIBBS, BACK OFF!"

"You've got your answers. You could've stopped at me. McGee was a tag-a-long, that's it. He doesn't know anything. He wouldn't know anything. He can't get blamed for following orders!" The Marine begins to shatter and shatter until his remaining 'cool' is dripping into the red and the hotness of heat. "LET IT GO FORNELL. LET HIM GO!"

"This is bullshit, Gibbs." The pulsing in his jaw is evident through his skin. "This is bullshit and you know it!"

"You had your chance. You asked questions. You got answers. Now you need proof and you don't have any of that!" He pants. "Don't come back to Headquarters without damn good proof that my entire team had planned to murder the Director of Mossad and a former FBI Agent. You-got-that…Fornell?"

Fornell stares until he blinks. "Yeah…I got it, Gibbs."

"Good."

Fornell leaves the small room; the door left opened in a very rude manner.

"Boss?" McGee looks to his superior.

"You were just following orders, McGee…that's all." He says as he tries to get his anger under control. "You're the least one to be suspected."

"I can handle-"

"I know you can, McGee…but this isn't your fight." He pauses. "This is between DiNozzo, Ziva…and myself."

"So…you're asking me to sit back and watch the three of you be put away for something none of you did?"

"What isn't it that we didn't do, McGee?" Gibbs asks; his eyebrows alert. "Ziva killed a Mossad, Tony killed a Mossad, and I…I led them to kill." He face cringes with pain.

"With good reason!" McGee feels fear boiling in the pit of his stomach.

"Good? Reason?" He huffs, then falls silent. "…we wouldn't be in this position if things were good…if things had a reason, McGee."

Director Shepard turns to Ducky and falls into his warm arms.

The chill of the storm is too much to take.