A/N: Hmm, the plot thickens. It's been interesting reading people's guesses. I hope I can keep this twisty and intriguing enough for folks. Thanks for your comments and please keep letting me know what you think as this progresses. I am trying to make this a bit more of a mystery.

Leroy Jethro Gibbs paused in the doorway and glanced around the bustling room taking a moment to watch the activity before him. Uniformed and plainclothes detectives hurried about as they dealt with witnesses, suspects and people filing reports. Someone was at every desk and even more people moved about on foot. It was a busy squad room with the phones ringing constantly and the chatter at a controlled din. He caught snippets of conversation as the public demanded the police do something for their various concerns.

"Hey man, the dude pulled a knife on me! I had to defend myself!"

"His name is John Hillary and he's been missing for a week. He works with computers and he never misses work. I know something has happened!"

"What's my tax dollars paying for if you're not looking into this?"

"I told Missy that you can't simply pay for half and walk out!"

"May I help you?"

This last question was directed towards Gibbs and was delivered by a young, uniformed officer. She looked at him with a raised eyebrow taking in his neat, but fairly non-descript appearance. Fed, she mentally pegged him.

Gibbs pulled out his credentials and showed them to the young cop. "I'm looking for Detective Kramer."

The uniformed officer peered suspiciously at Gibbs but gave a sharp nod. "I'll go get him."

Gibbs grunted an acknowledgment and the young woman trotted off. He glanced around the room noting the volume had risen. When Emily came to him asking for help, his first instinct had been to refuse. Aaron Hotchner was not one of his favorite people and hearing the trouble the BAU leader had gotten himself into made Gibbs even warier of getting involved. He suspected there was going to be some serious fallout from this case and he didn't want to get wrapped up in something that was absolutely none of his business. However, one thing stopped him from completely refusing. He didn't want to see Emily get hurt.

Knowing the woman, she was going to get involved with or without his help. At least by being a part of it, Gibbs might be able to minimize the complications. Or at least be there for Emily when the shit hit the fan.

Gibbs had hoped to find the information Emily needed by having McGee look into what DC Metro had, i.e., hack their computers. But when McGee tapped into the DC computer system, he learned the detective in charge was Tom Kramer. Gibbs knew Kramer and he also knew the cop wouldn't input any information on his case until it was nearly complete. A look through the open file on Beth Clemmons showed this to be true. Gibbs got some preliminary information that matched up to the few details Emily had, but he knew he would have to talk to Kramer himself if he really wanted to know what evidence they had against Hotchner.

Not that he minded. Gibbs actually liked Kramer. Smart, solid, honest, he was a good cop with a good brain. But Kramer was a lot like himself, he played his cards very close to the vest. At least Gibbs knew Kramer would do a thorough job and not railroad Hotchner. Even if the evidence looked pretty solid, Kramer would still double-check to make sure Hotchner was the right suspect.

"Agent? This way please."

The young officer was at his elbow and she was gesturing for him to follow her. She took him away from the hustle and bustle of the squad room to a quiet hallway and into a small conference room. The young officer left him and a minute later, Kramer came into the room.

"Gibbs, what brings you around?" Kramer greeted as he shook the NCIS agent's hand.

"Hear you caught a case that involves an FBI agent."

Kramer paused and instantly became wary. "Aaron Hotchner. He a friend of yours?"

"Naw, but I do know him."

Kramer gestured for Gibbs to sit down as he took a seat himself. "Given your tone, doesn't sound like there's much love lost between you two. Tell me about him."

"I don't think he's involved in that woman's disappearance," Gibbs replied as he settled himself into his chair. "Hotchner is a straight arrow."

"Straight arrow, hmmm." Kramer tapped fingers on the table top. "Co-workers said he was diddling a subordinate."

Gibbs raised an eyebrow. "I really doubt it."

"Co-worker said Clemmons confided in her that was what was happening and why he broke up with her." Kramer gazed intently at the NCIS agent. "Hotchner has some women on his team I understand."

It was Gibbs' turn to be wary. He knew it wasn't Emily and he had his doubts Hotchner actually was sleeping with another agent, but he wondered if the FBI man may have given the Stalker that as an excuse to get her off his back. It didn't sound like something Hotchner would do, but if he was trying to get rid of a persistent woman, he may have thought she'd grow uninterested if he was attached to someone else. However, if he did say that, anyone familiar with the BAU would probably zero in on Emily as the likely candidate considering the other women were attached. "Don't think that was happening between Hotchner and anyone on his team."

"Hear he has some very attractive women on his team," Kramer continued, earning a sharp look from Gibbs. Kramer has done a lot of digging so far. "Intense work they do too. Sometimes things happen."

"Not between Hotchner and anyone on his team," Gibbs repeated firmly.

Kramer was watching him with intense interest, the wheels turning in his head. Finally he said, "So, if you're not friends with Hotchner, why are you doing this? Or should I say, for whom?"

Gibbs kept his face blank and only said, "Just curious."

Kramer regarded him silently before he said, "Come on, Gibbs, you don't do anything without a reason. Or you do it for someone." He tilted his head to the side again, trying to read Gibbs' poker face. "Must be a helluva woman to have you two trying hard to keep her name out of things."

Gibbs narrowed his eyes slightly. He didn't know if this was a stab in the dark by Kramer or if he knew something. "What did Hotchner say?" His voice was just a hair too sharp and he tipped his hand, indicating that there was someone else involved in some way, though, Gibbs suspected Kramer was already far down that path.

"Agent Hotchner doesn't seem to remember much about last night. However, we have a video of him going into the victim's apartment and a body that's been identified as Beth Clemmons."

Gibbs suppressed a sigh. "So you're charging him." Kramer hesitated, causing Gibbs to raise an eyebrow. "What? You're not charging him?"

"He's a person of interest," Kramer confirmed. "But I'd like to get a more solid case against him with some additional evidence. We haven't finished processing everything yet."

"So, he's free to go?" Gibbs asked as he stood.

Kramer regarded him steadily. "He is. Will you be taking him out of here?"

"Not going to be responsible for him," Gibbs replied as they left the room. "But I'll give him a ride. Where is he?"

Kramer nodded at a door at the opposite side of the hall. "He's in there. Go ahead and tell him he's free to go." He tilted his head. "You going to stick with this case?"

Gibbs shook his head. "Not my responsibility. He's got his own team for that."

Again, the detective regarded him with those piercing eyes. "Hmmm, yes, and our mysterious woman whose name people wish to keep out of this investigation. You do know I'll figure out who she is."

Gibbs shrugged. "If there is a woman."

"Hotchner doesn't strike me as the type who'd go for a man."

Gibbs did crack a smile at that before he opened the door to the interrogation room Hotch was in.

Kramer left him as Gibbs walked into the room and closed the door behind him. Hotch looked up and did a double take when he saw his visitor.

"Gibbs?"

"Get up, they're releasing you and I guess I'm your ride," Gibbs ordered.

"What are you doing here?" Hotch asked in confusion as he slowly stood.

Gibbs eyed the man closely. He was steady on his feet, but the FBI agent did look paler than Gibbs had remembered. "We'll talk in the car, but they're not charging you. Yet. You are a person of interest to them."

"Not surprising, given what they've told me what they have so far," Hotch replied dryly as he followed Gibbs out of the room.

The two men fell silent as they walked through the halls of the station house and out to Gibbs' car. It wasn't until they had pulled out of the parking lot that Hotch turned to the NCIS agent and asked. "Okay, why are you here?"

"Emily sent me," Gibbs replied simply. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Hotch's features soften slightly at the mention of the woman's name. Once again, he could only think for someone so smart, Hotchner was a world class dumbass. "You're team is locked out of this completely. They've been put on leave and have no access to anything. Emily knew I could get info from Metro." He glanced over at the other man. "I didn't think I'd be picking you up."

"So where are we going?" Hotch asked.

"Emily said they're meeting at your teammate's house. Rossi's. I'm dropping you off there." He glanced over at Hotch. "It's not looking good for you so far. What's this about you not remembering anything?"

Hotch grunted. "Just exactly that. I don't remember much about anything last night. They've got video of me going into Beth's apartment, but I have no recollection of that at all. I've been avoiding her for the past few weeks so I don't know why I would be going over to her place."

"You think you were drugged?"

"Well, I'm not prone to blackouts and I don't have a bump or wounds on my head, so that's the only other explanation I can think of," Hotch replied wryly. "Question is who would drug me? Beth would be the logical choice, but they positively identified her body through dental records."

"Dental records?" Gibbs asked, a memory of a past case leaping to mind.

"Body found in her burning car. They only could use dental records."

"Dental records aren't always correct." He explained to Hotch the case where the suspect had removed all of his teeth in order to get around the identification via dental records.

Hotch stared at him in disbelief. "I doubt Beth had all her teeth pulled out."

"No, but nowadays everything is electronic and electronic records can be switched around," Gibbs replied. Something niggled at the back of his brain. Computers. A missing person's report he had overheard in the stationhouse.

"But why?" Hotch mused. "Why do all this?"

Gibbs snorted in disbelief. "Because she's a whack job." He shot Hotch an annoyed glare. "For a profiler, you sure do miss a lot of things right in front of you. Em told me how you two met. She was stalking you! Then you break it off, for someone like that, it's like flipping their crazy switch."

Hotch felt himself flushing, partly from anger but also embarrassment. He should have known better, but he had fallen like a fool for Beth's advances. "I wasn't aware that Prentiss thought it was her place to discuss my personal life with you," he said in frigid tones.

"Get that stick out of your ass, Hotchner," Gibbs growled. "And don't get all over Em's case. I asked her about it." He gave Hotch a hard look. "I guess I can't really get all over your case either. Not like we haven't all made mistakes in picking someone to be involved with. Hell, I married badly three times."

"I don't like my personal life being a topic for gossip."

"Get over it. Everyone's life is fodder for gossip. That's just human nature. Thought you as a profiler would know that."

They were silent for a few more minutes as Gibbs continued to drive to Rossi's, but the NCIS man had one more question for Hotch.

"Kramer said that your girlfriend's thought you were screwing someone on your team. That true?"

"What? No, of course not!" Hotch huffed out.

"Why did she say that then? You give her a reason to think you were?"

Hotch sighed. "No. Beth had a hard time grasping how close I am to my team. We're family. You get that, but she didn't. There was also one or two times where she found me conversing with Prentiss and she jumped to the wrong conclusions because Emily was the only single female on the team and because she's so beautiful."

Gibbs raised his eyebrow at that last part and looked over at Hotch who seemed unaware that he had just described his subordinate as "beautiful".

"Kramer is a good cop. He's honest, thorough and he won't jump to conclusions. But he's like a dog with a bone once he gets something between his teeth. He keeps asking about you and another woman. He's not going to let that one go." He sent a hard look to Hotch. "I don't want to see Emily dragged into this mess."

Hotch sent the NCIS agent an equally hard look. He had yet to truly figure out what Prentiss' relationship with Gibbs was. He didn't think they were lovers, but she was very fond of the man and Gibbs was ferociously protective of her. But for Gibbs to think he would drag Emily into this mess with Beth was insulting on every level.

"I have not mentioned Prentiss to the police nor do I intend to," Hotch said in a cold voice.

"Kramer will find out about her, about everyone on your team. Won't take him long to figure out that it was probably Emily that had Beth all worked up," Gibbs grunted. He pulled up to Rossi's house and turned off the engine. He sent Hotch another hard look. "I did this as a favor to Emily, Hotchner, but if it came down to protecting her or you, I'm picking Emily."

Hotch steadily returned the look and said in a quiet, even tone. "If it comes down to that, I'm choosing to protect her too."

A/N 2: For those who don't know, I wrote a CM/NCIS cross-over and while this isn't exactly a sequel or in the same timeline as that story, the relationships are the same in that Emily is very good friends with the NCIS crew and Gibbs is extremely fond of her, he regards her as family, but Hotch and Gibbs do not get along at all. It's partially because it's two very alpha males and partially because of Emily. And no, Gibbs does not have romantic designs on her, but Hotch doesn't know that for certain. Gibbs is just very protective and Gibbs-like towards her.