Gibbs dropped the phone back into it's cradle. "Got a case. Let's go."

"What is it this time Boss?" Tony asked, sounding like an eager student as he gathered his things and trailed Gibbs to the elevator. "Dead marine? Murdered Navy guy? Killer dog?" He elbowed McGee.

Gibbs glared at Tony. "Petty Officer found in his quarters hanging from the rafters."

"Right." Tony took the cue and shut up while Ziva and McGee smirked behind his back.

NCIS

Jenny removed her glasses and closed her eyes, seeking a moment of relief from the concentration. She glanced at the schedule Cynthia had left for her today. She was in the office all day. First was a couple hours in MTAC to supervise the carrying out of a mission they'd been planning for two months. Then back to back meetings and phone calls with different agents and agency director's. And whenever she wasn't having actual contact with others, she had new agent files to approve, requests to review, forms that needed her signature, and reports to read, until she was sure she never wanted to see another report again. But that didn't change that a new pile would appear on her desk tomorrow.

Her eyes rested on the flower from Jethro and she smiled in spite of everything else. Her husband. Jenny knew he must've enlisted the help of her assistant to have the flower waiting on her desk before she got in. They'd arrived within minutes of each other today. She loved that he cared so much and the mystery of flowers was fun, Jenny was always wondering what he would want to tell her next.

"Director?" Cynthia's voice on the intercom broke into her thoughts.

"Yes Cynthia?"

"MTAC in five minutes."

"Thank you."

Jenny pushed aside anything personal that she was thinking about. She had a mission to oversee and if they succeeded, lives would be saved. She squared her shoulders and picked up her notepad. Failure was not an option.

NCIS

Whoosh! The doors beeped and opened and Abby came bursting into Autopsy, her white lab coat flying behind her. "Ducky!" she yelled. "I can't believe you didn't tell me!"

Dr. Mallard, who was sitting innocently at his desk finishing a report, jumped and turned around. "Good gracious Abigail, you scared me!"

Abby crossed her arms and glared at the Medical Examiner. "You should've told me."

"Told you what?" the poor man asked, completely confused.

"About Gibbs and the Director."

Ducky raised his eyebrows. "Oh, that." He came over and put his hands on Abby's arms. "Ahh, Abby, I couldn't. It wasn't my news or my secret to share." He frowned. "How did you find out?"

Abby's eyes glimmered and her smile returned. "They were wearing their rings at lunch yesterday."

"Oh my. And today?"

"Yup," she grinned.

Ducky smiled slowly. "Then this, my dear, is going to be a very interesting day indeed. Shall we go upstairs and take a peek?"

"Oh Ducky," Abby threw her arms around his neck, "I thought you'd never ask."

NCIS

Ziva was crouched down in the grass, adjusting the camera lens as she snapped several pictures of the body laying at an awkward angle below the building. This was already shaping up to be a strange case. They'd arrived at the base to see the room where the Petty Officer had died and were told there was a second body, a jumper discovered shortly after the first phone call to NCIS. Tony was canvassing the area, McGee held a pen and pad as he interviewed witnesses, and Gibbs stood off to the side, speaking quietly with the deceased's CO.

Turning without appearing to move, Ziva pointed the camera at Gibbs, zooming in on his left hand and snapping a couple of pictures at different zoom distances. The next second he had turned around, pulling latex gloves on and she seemed intent on her original task. He hunkered down beside her.

"What have we got?"

"A mess," Ziva replied. "Falling off a building is not the neatest way to die. Why not just shoot himself?"

"Maybe he didn't fall," Gibbs answered. "He could've been pushed."

"My money's on a suicide," Tony interjected, coming up behind them. "Canvassed the entire area Boss, there's nothing here that's going to help us."

"Why a suicide DiNozzo?"

"Well, Boss I know to you everything is murder until proven otherwise but, come on - one guy hangs himself and the other guy thinks he can fly? Classic suicide pact. Kind of like..." Tony trailed off as Gibbs stare silenced him.

"Yeah, or someone is really good at staging a scene and found a great way to try to cover up a double homicide."

"Okay, there is that. I think I saw something like that on an episode of Crossing Jordan one time." He looked at their blank expressions. "It's a TV show from the early 2000s. About the people at an ME's office and how they team up with this goofy cop to help solve the mysteries behind how their dead bodies ended up there."

Both Gibbs and Ziva ignored him, heading back towards the van. Ducky and Palmer had just pulled up.

"So sorry to be late Jethro. Mr. Palmer here took a wrong turn."

"I didn't take a wrong turn Dr. Mallard, you were holding the map upside down."

"The incompetence of youth today is astounding," Ducky muttered as if Jimmy hadn't spoken. "Bring the gurney Mr. Palmer, hurry up."

"Coming Doctor."

"We need everything you can get off these bodies Duck."

Ducky's brow furrowed. "There's more than one?"

"Another, inside. A hanging. And if we don't move fast, someone might be getting away with murder."

NCIS

"See? Right there! I told you he was wearing a ring!" Ziva pointed to the enlarged picture of Gibbs left hand on McGee's computer screen.

"Well, you don't know for sure it's a wedding ring Ziva," Tony hedged. All this time and he'd never once considered the possibility of Gibbs and the Director being married. A secret rendevous, yes. Marriage, no. So much for the pool he'd started. He'd be lucky if he even saw a penny of it after word of this got out.

Ziva shot Tony a sharp look. "It's a silver band on his left hand Tony! On his ring finger! What else could it be?"

Tony's expression was pained. "You've got a point there."

"Tell me this is case related," Gibbs commanded as he entered the squadroom. McGee hit one button and cleared his screen and Tony and Ziva suddenly found other things to be interested in. "You better have something."

"Yeah, a whole lot of question marks," Tony complained bitterly. "Petty Officer Jordan Snow and Sergeant Ethan Whiddon have no connections at all."

"Except being dead and lying in Autopsy DiNozzo."

"Right Boss, except that. I mean, they weren't part of the same unit, they didn't share guard duties or any other duties for that matter, and they've never sailed on the same ship. As far as I can tell, they've never have met. So much for my theory."

"Find a new one with no holes in it DiNozzo. I want answers!"

Gibbs stormed out of the room and headed for the elevator, ignoring the way Ziva stared at him. He sure hoped Ducky had some good news for him. He shook his head. Of course Jen would win their bet. Obviously Ziva knew and was in the process of convincing the others. Now it was just whether or not they had the guts to ask him to his face about the ring. If they did it before the end of the day, he knew he'd be paying for it. Jenny was dangerous when she was right.

NCIS

"Gibbs!" Abby squealed when he walked into the lab, nearly strangling him with a hug.

"Abs!" he laughed. "I just saw you yesterday."

"I know!" Abby's eyes widened. "I missed you too." She looked him over. "No Caf-Pow!"

Gibbs looked at her. "That depends. What have you got?"

"A severe case of dead cat curiosity." At Gibbs blank look she tried to explain. "You know the saying - curiosity killed the cat? Well, I'm practically there. What's going on upstairs? Have they figured it out yet? Did they say anything? Oh, I wanted to be there to see Tony's face when he finally got it."

Gibbs loved Abby but sometimes he wished there was an off switch for her tangents. "The case, Abby?"

"You're not going to tell me anything?" she begged.

"Abby, I have two families waiting for answers and two dead guys in Autopsy with no good reason why. Now what have you got?"

"Right, focus." She took a deep breath. "Are you ready for this one Gibbs?" She paused.

"Ready as I'm ever gonna get Abby."

"I just got the DNA tests back on our dead guys. Get this, they're related."

"Related how?"

Abby hesitated. "It's not quite that simple Gibbs, the DNA doesn't give me their family tree. But see this?" She pointed to the dark markers on the DNA panel on her computer screen. "This means they were fairly closely related - cousins or possibly half-brothers."

"So this could've been a hit."

"You got it."

"Abby, find me everything you can get on these guys. I want to know their whole life stories up to and including why they were murdered on the same day."

"It's gonna take a while. It's just me down here."

"I'll send McGee down to help you. You've got three hours and then I want results."

Abby saluted. "Absolutely mon capitan!"

"Good." Gibbs turned on his heel and headed back to the elevator. Time to go see Ducky and find out how their guys died.