Bella could barely see from the emotional pain by the time she reached the Salvatore Boarding House. She tried keeping it at bay while in Jasper's company but once she was out of sight, and hopefully out of range for his pathokinesis, it all just washed over her, threatening to overwhelm her. Shutting it all off was very tempting, but she couldn't afford to be a sociopathic cold-hearted bitch with the NCIS operatives waiting for her.

In the driveway, she spotted the Dodge Charger. Company car. Official business it was then. At least partially. The agent still couldn't hear anything from inside, the wards doing their job perfectly, but perhaps she could get Caroline's attention with her super sensitive hearing to fetch something so that she could clean up a bit before confronting them.

"Care? I'm here. Could you get me a towel and some water before I go in?" the brunette called out quietly by the front door.

Moments later, the blonde came outside with the requested items.

"Bella? What's wrong?" the vampire noted her distress at once. Not that she was very good at hiding it at the moment. "Did Klaus do something? Where is he? I never heard a car."

"No, he didn't do anything. I came on foot," Bella explained as she sat down and ran the water over her feet to clean them. She had to present herself as someone just coming from a date. Her hair was in disarray too from the wind, but there wasn't much she could do about that.

"You took a while…" Caroline mused out loud. A run at vampire speed along the perimeter of the town should only have taken about 2-3 minutes, yet it almost 15 minutes had passed since their call.

"I ran into an old acquaintance in the woods," the agent offered, hoping that her friend wouldn't follow up on it. She really didn't want to talk about it. Tears were already threatening to fall, and she had a façade to keep up.

"Who?" the blonde asked. So much for wishes coming true.

"Jasper," was all Bella said. Good thing she explained her whole life history to the gang just yesterday.

"One of Edward's adopted siblings? What is he doing here?" Care scowled at the name, anger, and protectiveness bubbling up inside her.

"He was just passing through on his way north. It was a coincidence. A very badly timed coincidence," the brunette dismissed, trying very hard to push her emotions down as she dried her feet with the towel and put her shoes back on.

"I'm so sorry. It must have stirred some stuff up," she sympathetically placed a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"That's one way of putting it," Bella shrugged with a sigh and got up from the stairs. Game face on.

"What are you ladies whispering about out here?" Damon inquired suddenly from behind them, leaning casually against the doorframe with his arms crossed.

"Why ask if you heard every word?" the agent quipped knowing that with vampires around it was practically impossible to have a private conversation and whereas Stefan made a point of not listening in, the same couldn't be said about his older brother. Not to mention that his face said it all, he was adorning a similar expression to Caroline's.

"Hey, just trying to be polite here," the older Salvatore defended his eavesdropping with held up hands.

"Then mind your own business!" the brunette hissed. Everyone was so damn nosy around here.

"Ooh, touchy, aren't we?" he smirked at her playfully. He clearly never heard of the proverb "wake not a sleeping lion."

"Go fuck yourself, Damon," Bella scoffed as she practically shoved him out of the way so that she could go inside.

"I will, thank you very much!" Damon shouted after her for the whole house to hear.

"Ew. Gross," Caroline scrunched her face at him in disgust, following her friend.

"Hey, Probie, you really didn't need to cut your date short for us. Especially since clearly you were having a great time," DiNozzo greeted her cheekily the moment she set foot in the living room where they were seated, referring to her windswept hair that she couldn't fix, either figuring it was messy after sex hair or was just trying to tease her.

"The top of the car was down as he drove me back," the agent quickly came up with the excuse, seeing from the corner of her eyes that the blond vampire raised a brow at her from the other corner of the room, knowing the actual truth. Her incredible ability to lie like that on the fly must have been news to her.

"Bella! Why didn't you tell me you were seeing someone?" Abby hopped up from the couch waddling over to her in her ridiculous platform shoes to hug her.

"Because I'm not. I was only asked out early afternoon today," she forced a tight smile on her face as she awkwardly returned the gesture.

"And who is the lucky guy?" the Goth girl pushed her for further details enthusiastically.

"No one of importance, I won't be seeing him anymore," Bella evaded with ease. "So what are you guys doing here?"

"Can't a friend just drop by to wish you happy birthday? Especially since you stood her up?" the forensic scientist frowned at her, clearly hurt.

"Sure, but a two-hour drive in the company car just for that is hardly warranted. What's going on?" the female agent inquired again, intent on not addressing her absence from plans she never agreed to in the first place.

"You tell us. We tried calling you on your cell, but it has been turned off. Funny finding out that you have another one," Tony jumped into the conversation, he rising from his place too, abandoning the drinks that were offered to them on the coffee table. Bourbon, huh. Damon was very hospitable it seemed, and they weren't planning on making the drive back to D.C. this evening.

"The battery must have died, I forgot to put it on the charger last night," the brunette shrugged it off. They found a way to track her down anyway what was the big deal. Gibbs's rules were seriously a pain in the ass sometimes.

"Right. Still doesn't explain why you have two," DiNozzo raised a brow at her accusatorially. Great… Caroline, couldn't you have called me inconspicuously? Not that she knew her private phone was supposed to have been sort of a secret.

"It helps to keep business separate from personal," she replied without missing a beat. I mean come on… it wasn't that unusual for people to have multiple communications devices. "How did you know you would find me here?"

"The nice lady at the motel suggested that if you had friends in town, this would be the place to check first," Abby answered this inquiry but glanced towards Tony for confirmation.

The vampire hybrid didn't know the innkeeper personally, how would she have any idea where she would be? It raised a giant red flag in her mind. But the only other plausible explanation was that the senior agent had followed her, possibly on their first day in town when she had come here with Jeremy. Surely he wouldn't have? What else might he have heard? She made a point of not showing any sign of her alarm on the outside.

"And while we waited, Damon was kind of enough entertain us with anecdotes. Nice fella."

Notjust anecdotes, Agent Swan guessed and briefly wondered just what exactly the older Salvatore had shared with her NCIS co-workers. It seemed she had a long talk ahead of her with the gang on proper secret keeping conduct.

"Yeah until he bares his fangs at you…" Bella muttered under her breath, too quietly for her colleagues to make out but the vampires in the room had to stifle their laughs, disguising them as coughs at the pun. "Sorry if I don't share that notion. He is a royal pain in the ass."

"I might be going out on a limb here, but he is the ex you mentioned some days ago?" he guessed nonchalantly and yet again the brunette had the sudden urge to compel the truth out of him in regards to how he knew the stuff he wasn't supposed to have a clue about.

"The very same," she confirmed, no point in denying once asked about it directly.

"Why are you staying at his place then?" Tony furrowed his brows in confusion. They must have asked someone about the place after all, if they knew this was the Salvatore Boarding House.

"Complicated."

This she wasn't about to explain. Hey, I'm here because this is the base of operations for the Scooby Gang and we have a couple of conniving thousand-year-old Originals in town thus we must stick together in order to find out what they want and possibly thwart their plans. That would have gone over well… And he still hadn't revealed the point of their visit. Whatever they wanted must have required a security clearance. Great.

"Why are you guys stalling? What are you not telling me?"

"Can we talk privately somewhere?" Abby anxiously inquired, wringing her hands. The vampires were standing off by the fireplace feigning conversation among themselves, but she knew they were paying close attention this whole time.

"Sure. Let's just go up to my room," Bella beckoned them out of the room towards the stairs. "Don't come up and interrupt, unless I explicitly tell you to," she added quietly once her back was to the agent and forensic scientist, intended only for those with supernatural hearing. "I'll handle this."

No objections, huh, she noted when Tony and Abby followed without a word. Must not be that secret if merely a closed door was enough for them. Her room could be bugged for all they knew and what they couldn't even begin to guess at was that three people in the house would still be able to hear every word if they really wanted. And no doubt about it Damon was going to listen in even if no one else.

"You have your own room, huh. That was quick. You moving in permanently?" DiNozzo asked casually as they threaded up the stairs but the brunette could hear out the underlying tension.

"Tony, behave!" her Goth friend chided.

"What I meant was the room I'm using at the moment. I didn't realize you were going to get so technical with me," the female agent replied just as she opened the door to the second bedroom on the right, letting them go first then followed them inside.

"Well, excuse me if my patience is wearing a bit thin with your behavior ever since Mystic Falls was first mentioned. First, you dread the place, then now, you suddenly take off on leave and come back here without any explanation," Tony huffed agitatedly, running his hand through his hair. Abby sat down on the bed, looking between her co-workers warily.

"Why exactly do I owe you an explanation?" Bella inquired with a raised brow, leaning against the closed door behind her. DiNozzo seemed to freeze at the question, his eyes briefly wandering to her outfit. She looked down at herself too. Yeah, she was dressed up pretty, not something he usually saw. She had just come from a date. A date. Fuck. So this is what this little hissy fit was about! "Don't tell me you are jealous?"

His eyes widened impossibly at the accusation, then he averted his gaze quickly. Jackpot it seemed. At first, Bella was confused and at a loss as to what to say to that revelation. But then a plan started to formulate in her head. Maybe she didn't need to leave NCIS after all. That is if there weren't any unfixable hiccups in the Sheridan case.

"What did you guys need to tell me? I'm on leave and would like to get back to it quickly," the female agent faked being upset by Tony's silent admission, her voice cold and hard.

The Goth girl hesitantly glanced between them then decided to say what she had intended to discuss. "I was worried about you. Remember the syringe with the verbena residue?"

"Yes," she nodded. How could she not?

"Well, I had one of my buddies at the botanical gardens look into the alternative uses of the herb, and he found some very old folklore, from Mystic Falls actually – well it wasn't called that then but from this area – and supposedly it can ward off vampires. And then there was this weird substance in the petty officer's wounds that I couldn't identify for a while. It looked like DNA, but not really and had sections that resembled wolf DNA but had to be like a thousand years old if the computer was to be believed, some of these genetic markers are not present in the modern day population anymore. I chalked it up to sample contamination, but now I don't know. What if it's werewolf DNA or something? And this freaky case? What if Joey Bates really wasn't the killer but a vampire or werewolf or something? And you are here and possibly in danger, I just couldn't let it slide, so I convinced Tony to drive me down here with the excuse that I had to see you and tell happy birthday to you no matter what. Happy Birthday by the way," the forensic scientist ranted on nervously, gesticulating wildly with her hands as she explained, looking between her friends with concern, wondering if they thought she was crazy.

Bella didn't find those statements funny at all, especially since they hit the nail on the head exactly, but the image that Abby had just been unwittingly in a room with four vampires was rather amusing, especially since the Goth girl was so afraid of them. Ah, the irony. So she used the emotion of that and chuckled, first trying to contain it, then went and laughed out loud, slumping down on the floor. Tony just regarded the scene in bewilderment, trying to figure out what to think of Abby's theories and his partner's reactions to them.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she said after a minute, trying to catch her breath. "But that's ridiculous. Come on… vampires and werewolves? This is not an Anne Rice novel, but reality. Please tell me you hadn't said anything to Gibbs about this."

"No, I didn't," the forensic scientist girl shook her head. Perfect, Gibbs was probably hard or impossible to compel based on what a hard head he was. "You guys were the first."

"And did you actually go out and buy verbena to protect yourself from vampires before coming here?" the female agent got up from the floor finally, inquiring in a giggly, mocking tone.

"Uh, no, all the pharmacies that had verbena tea were already closed before we left," Abby shook her head again just as the brunette sat down on the bed beside her.

Good, Bella thought. But awfully stupid and careless. Let's just test that in case she was suspecting something and this was a trap. She turned towards her, looking deep into her eyes.

"Abby, you really need to go to the bathroom. Stay there until I call for you," the vampire hybrid told her friend. Innocent enough so that if it didn't work, she could just pass it off as a bad joke. Without a word she got up and went to the en-suite.

"What the…?" Tony gasped from the other corner of the room, glancing at her in disbelief then back at the brunette.

"DiNozzo," Bella quickly made her way to him after getting his attention, pupils dilating again. "Kiss me on the mouth," she commanded.

He did so promptly, and she slapped him hard – well hard for a human girl of her build – the outline of her hand already forming on his cheek. This wasn't strictly necessary since she could have just made him think that this is what happened, but it was much more believable this way. Especially since Gibbs would be able to see the end result tomorrow.

"You will forget about what Abby said regarding verbena, vampires, and werewolves. You guys simply came here to wish me happy birthday, then you made a pass at me while Abby was using the ladies room. I slapped you on the face for it. Tomorrow I'm going to call Gibbs to inform him. Now go downstairs and look ashamed until you wait for Abby."

The agent could hear the faint snickering from downstairs as the senior agent exited her room. Eavesdropping bunch, but she had to admit she was putting on quite a performance. On second thought. What if she was being played?

"Guys, make sure he is really compelled, alright?" she whispered just loudly enough for them to hear. Knowing Damon, testing would mean to take a bite of him to see if there was vervain in him, so she added another stipulation. "But be gentle."

"All clear," she heard Caroline's confirmation a minute later. The vampire hybrid had no idea what they had done, but she trusted the blonde enough to believe her.

"Abby!" Bella called out towards the bathroom, faking the distress in her voice.

"What happened?" Ms. Sciuto came running out of the en-suite. Instead of explaining normally, Bella yet again looked deep into her eyes.

"What is the name of the botanical guy who was advising you?" the agent inquired. Loose ends everywhere, seriously.

"Danny Brosch," the forensic scientist obediently replied.

"You will thank him for the help and jokingly pass this off on your superstitions, if he doesn't seem to believe you, give me a call with his address and I'll handle it. As for your findings. Verbena is nothing more than a medicinal herb like you originally suggested, there was nothing odd to be found out regarding the syringe. The saliva sample from the wound was most likely contaminated. Wolves do live in the Virginia woods, one must have come into town to feast on the body but was chased off before it could dig in. This evening you convinced Tony to take you here to wish me happy birthday. While you were in the bathroom he kissed me, I slapped him on the face. I'm distraught. I don't believe I can work with him after this. Tomorrow I will call Gibbs to discuss what options I have. Now go, have a good night and return to D.C. in the morning. Tell DiNozzo to drive safe given that he had a bit too much bourbon," Bella gave her full instructions to the Goth girl, watching her exit the room too.

Within a minute the opening and closing of the front door could be heard. An engine being turned on, car tires on asphalt, pulling away. And they were gone. The brunette felt really bad for doing this, but she didn't really have another choice. Before the nosy bunch could come and pester her, she locked her door and stripped off her clothes, wishing for a hot shower and sleep.

Avoiding the Caroline inquisition forever was impossible though. Her first question when Bella came downstairs for breakfast at 7 AM was about her date last night with Klaus. The brunette just glared at her from the fridge in her grey Snoopy themed T-shirt and matching shorts as pajamas. It was kind of ironic since she wasn't the one being snoopy. That good morning cup of coffee that her top suggested would be welcome about now though.

Still pointedly ignoring the question, she got the milk out and some cereal from the cupboards, poured the liquid caffeine out into a mug and sat down to try and enjoy her breakfast in quiet. An impossible wish.

"Just give me something, what did you guys do? Did he take you out to dinner? Did you guys kiss?" the vampire impatiently whined, leaning on the table with her elbows, throwing puppy dog eyes at her friend.

"No and no, and not telling," the agent grumbled, keeping her attention on the sustenance.

"Don't tell me you went all the way?!" Caroline inquired wide-eyed just as Bella was taking a sip of her coffee, making her sputter.

"Geez. What the fuck?" she exclaimed in a grouchy, disgruntled manner.

"Exactly that!" the blonde winked at her.

"Most definitely not," the vampire hybrid asserted, turning her attention back to her breakfast.

"Then just tell me, or I'll make up my own assumptions," Caroline pushed on, crossing her arms in front of herself.

"Fine. He cooked dinner, we drank wine and talked some. Then he showed me his paintings. Almost kissed me, but you interrupted him when you called. Happy?" she summarized the evening, muttering "not that it's any of your business" under her breath, knowing full well that she heard that too.

"And what does he want from you?" the blonde asked. Logical, though, since that was the sole purpose of the "mission." To find out what Klaus really wanted. She still wasn't sure she got all of it out of him.

"To take me to New Orleans with him." That much was certain from his words. The rest she planned on to negotiate further in one way or another.

"And are you?" the vampire quirked a brow.

"I'm not sure yet," Bella shrugged the question off. Depended on what she could work out with Gibbs. Not to mention she was still a bit wary whether the compulsion took hold or not. And then there was the meeting with Jasper.

"But you are considering?" Caroline insisted on an actual answer. In a way, it was adorable that they were so concerned with her wellbeing.

"Look. I'm not in the mood for this. There's a lot to take into account. But if that plan means that everyone will be kept safe then yes I'm considering," the agent affirmed, hoping that they wouldn't try and interfere.

"Was that performance with the NCIS guys in preparation for that?" she inquired curiously. It must have puzzled them greatly what the slap feast was for.

"Yes, I'll try and request to be transferred to the squad in New Orleans. I now have a good excuse for that," the brunette nodded. Finished with breakfast, she stood up to go to the sink and rinse the plate before putting it in the dishwasher.

"Wouldn't Tony be in trouble?" Why would you care? Unless she had the hots for him. Geez, wasn't Stefan enough?

"I'll tell my boss that I don't want any official repercussions to come from this, and to just handle this quietly," Bella revealed. He would probably get a few slaps on the head from the team leader, but that's all.

"Will that work?" the blonde wondered out loud.

"I don't know, but there is only one way to find out," the agent shrugged.

"What if Klaus wants to use you in some sinister plan?" Caroline made a face. Were they still intent that this was a baby making mission on his part for some world domination plan with an army of evil hybrid spawns?

"That's for me to worry about. I'll keep him out of your hair," she started to understand why Damon always acted alone. Getting your every move questioned was annoying as hell.

"Geez, you are so like Elena," Damon made his presence known. How long had he been listening in?

"I'll take that as a compliment, coming from you," Bella threw him a tight-lipped smile. "But if you guys will excuse me, I have another 170-year-old vampire to deal with."

"What did Stefan do?" the older Salvatore looked quizzically at her.

"Not Stefan. Sorry, I didn't phrase that correctly. Cold one. Jasper was turned during the Civil War too." There was no point in hiding that she was going to meet him.

"My CO in the Confederate army used to be Jasper too. Major Whitlock. Good four years younger than me but he had such charisma that he rose through the ranks in a matter of months. He went MIA in 1863, I deserted not too long after that," he reminisced until he noticed Bella's wry smile. "What?"

"Nothing. It's just a small world, that's all," she offered, whooshing out of the room before he could follow up.

"Hey, what did you mean by that?" Damon called after her with a frown. He hated when she was being so cryptic.

Bella deployed her super speed for getting ready too, immensely happy that she was back to blue jeans, white shirt, black boots and her deep red leather jacket. She kind of looked like the poster child of American patriotism, but she didn't mind.

On her run to Charlottesville, her cellphone went off. She slowed down and took a glance at the caller ID this time.

Jacob Black.

"Hey, Jake. What's up?" she answered in surprise. She had given him the number for emergencies only since in her line of work it wouldn't have been prudent to have her cell ringing all the time. Even if she had it on mute. The slight distraction of feeling the electrical circuits activating on an incoming call could cost the life of one of her teammates if they were on an assignment.

"Just wanted to let you know that your leech was here, asking about you," the shapeshifter informed her, his voice full of hatred and contempt.

Good thing she never told him that she had become a vampire too. He firmly believed that she was merely a federal agent. Both he and her father were very proud of her for that, although they were quite concerned with her being around firearms. For one they thought she was still clumsy as hell and her emotional breakdown after the Cullens left had them thinking she might be suicidal. The second worry had dissipated over the years though.

More importantly what the hell was Edward doing in Forks?

"He is not my leech," Bella told him with a roll of her eye, trying very hard to keep herself nonchalant and sarcastic, instead of curling up in a fetal position on the leaves under her feet. "What did you tell him?"

"It was Charlie he had found, not me. Still banned from the reservation, remember? Your dad called me immediately after since he knows I can get in touch with you at any time. He hadn't said anything to him, but you know that around him that doesn't mean much. I'm pretty sure Cullen knows you are in D.C.," he explained.

"Then it's a good thing I'm not," Bella replied cheekily, a smirk playing on the corner of her lips.

"Where are you?" Jacob immediately asked.

"Sorry, secret mission, can't tell you." Just in case Edward does find a way to listen in on Jake, better he didn't know her location either.

"Now you are just pulling my leg," the shapeshifter huffed amusedly.

"Sort of. I'm on leave, attending to some business. But still secret. Thanks for the heads up," the agent laughed out. She missed this. Their banter. Her best friend.

"Just, take care of yourself alright?" his tone switched again. Longing. Worried. Infatuated. This was one of the reasons she had hightailed out of Forks. She knew Jacob was in love with her, but she just couldn't reciprocate. Still can't.

"Will do," Bella reassured him, then hung up the phone.

Sigh. A peaceful life, huh. Definitely not in the cards for a while.