For a day in mid-November, it was not bad out. The night before had been almost balmy. They had to drive into the park for a bit until the trails narrowed and they made their way on foot to the crime scene.

Kate was struggling with her load, and being ever the gentleman, McGee took one of the bags of equipment.

Gibbs walked briskly ahead towards the police tape and local LEO's mulling about to keep the public away. There were only a few curious onlookers, one with a dog, likely since this was well inside the park. News vans hadn't been able to traverse the roads up to get to the trails that led this far in. NCIS was more motivated and equipped.

Gibbs approached what looked like the officer in charge.

Before he could address him, Tony spoke up behind him.

"Ah, Boss? I think I should go back and help Ducky and Palmer get in here…don't you think?"

Gibbs turned half way around, blue eyes staring Tony down from under his NCIS cap. "Send McGee, I want you here with Kate." He noticed just for a brief moment the slightly green pallor of his friend. "DiNozzo, you better not be partying on school nights with that dance teacher of yours."

Before Tony could respond, Gibbs turned and began a conversation with the LEO.

Tony sighed and turned to McGee, "OK McGee, go help get Ducky and Palmer in here."

"Ah, okay then," McGee said, handing his bundle of equipment to Tony.

Kate looked at him curiously. "You feeling okay Tony?"

He frowned at her, eyes catching the sun glimmering off her professionally set ponytail. "Fine, why?"

"Well…you don't look so good right now. You…uh…you're kind of pale." The words came out a little huffed. Kate was never comfortable worrying about him.

He snorted," Gibbs' driving. Still gets me once in a while after all this time."

"Suck it up DiNozzo," Gibbs growled but without any malice. He pointed to a mound of dirt just off the gravel path, behind a log. Beyond they assumed was a shallow grave, with their body. "LEO's were called to investigate and secure the scene for us, but someone called this in to NCIS. We can check later on the call with Abby. Body was buried nude, dogtags thrown in with it."

Gibbs started walking over and under the police tape attached to the trees. His feet crunched on gravel and some of the leaves that had already fallen. There were still enough on the trees to give them shade from the late morning sun.

Kate and Tony followed. And as they rounded the dug up pile of earth, they saw the horribly shriveled naked corpse, which looked almost bent backward in an extreme arch, limbs angled grotesquely as if the person had been writhing in pain before death. The skin was sucked onto the bones, as if it had been dehydrated for days. He was partially uncovered, as the LEO's had wisely waited for NCIS before finishing the job of unearthing the victim.

"They assured me," Gibbs said in a quietly furious tone, "that they made sure there was nothing where they dumped the dirt."

Tony knew they would need to sift through every ounce, to make sure no clues were missed. His heart was pounding, nauseated by the very macabre vision before him. "At least they left him partially in…"

"What happened to this man? He looks elderly…maybe he dyed his hair…" Kate said, trying to make sense of what she was seeing. "It's …not decay…almost looks like a mummy. But the flesh still looks…in tact…"

The eyes of the corpse were not as dried out, and were semi rolled up into their sockets. The teeth…almost bulged out of dry, receded lips and gums. And even through the dirt they could see gashes in the throat, also dry and shriveled back.

"No blood though," Gibbs muttered, along the lines of what they were all thinking. "Tony, shoot. Kate bag n' tag."

"Onnit Boss," Tony said, as he reached in his pack for his camera with shaking hands. Should not be letting this get to me…

They could hear the sound of the gurney rolling along the gravel path, with the voices of Ducky and McGee as they approached.

Kate was carefully starting to scan the path Ducky would need to take first, so he was clear from disrupting any evidence. "Not even a footprint," she muttered to herself. Whoever had buried the body had done so with such care that leaves and gravel had been swept over to hide the burial site.

Tony was taking perimeter photos and then stepping inward. Sighing a little to himself as he went, he realized he just really wasn't feeling well. And wanted to be home in bed. Not here…with that thing in the grave. It really did look like a mummy. His head was pounding, and he felt his skin break out into a clammy sweat.

"Jethro, good morning!" Ducky greeted Gibbs gaily. "Who do we have here?"

McGee and Palmer were standing by with equipment and the gurney.

"One second Ducky," Kate said, marking the path for him to take for the body. "There's a lot of dirt and leaves but nothing else so far."

"Got someone here who looks more like a prune than a person," Gibbs said flatly.

Ducky raised a brow and tilted his head, "Really? How intriguing. Well, let's have a look." He moved slowly and with care around the log to crouch beside the grave. "Oh my, my good man what ever has happened to you?" He leaned over and took up the dog tags with his gloved hand as Kate ran over with an evidence bag to receive them in. "Combs, William H, USMC…" Ducky let them carefully slide into the bag.

"McGee," Gibbs called. "Check em'."

McGee took the bag from Kate and walked away, pulling out his ID scanner to manually input the name and number.

Gibbs looked around the path. Most of the people had moved on.

"Agent Gibbs," one of the LEO's called out.

"Yeah," Gibbs answered, walking past Tony towards the officer. "Tony," he called as he slowly took a step back. His SFA seemed mesmerized by the body. And looked…sweaty?

"Hey, DiNozzo!" he barked, standing in front of the younger man, and finally Tony's eyes flashed green as they looked up at Gibbs.

"Huh? Yeah Boss?"

He looked surprised.

"You okay?" Gibbs asked, now a little concerned since Tony rarely lost focus at a crime scene.

"Ahhh, actually, I think I'm getting sick…or something. Maybe wasn't just your driving today after all," he tried a weak smile.

Gibbs stared at him for a moment. "You gonna' puke?"

"No!" he said, blanching even more at the thought.

Gibbs still stared, even as the LEO waiting to speak to him shifted on his feet impatiently.

"Ok…maybe. I might. That is…I might puke Boss…and this IS a crime scene and all…" Tony said a bit balefully.

"McGee!" Gibbs barked.

McGee ran over to them. "Boss, these tags belong to Private William H Combs, age twenty-nine, USMC. He was stationed at Camp Lejeune, and had leave for two weeks starting last Saturday. He has no family in the area."

"Twenty-nine," Gibbs muttered, shaking his head, not convinced yet that the shriveled corpse was the same person. We'll see…

"McGee, take over shooting for DiNozzo," he said seeing sheer relief on his SFA's face.

McGee was surprised. "Ahh, okay then…" he took the camera from Tony. " You alright, Tony?" he asked.

"Yeah, Tim, I'm ok…just not feelin' too good an' the Boss doesn't want me puking on our scene."

"Just go to the car, DiNozzo," Gibbs said with just a tinge of disappointment that made both the younger men wince.

Tony sighed and rubbed his eyes.

"Tony you sure-"

"Yeah McGee," he said tiredly. "Just go do your thing." And he turned and started down the path.

McGee frowned, still uneasy at the slumped gait Tony had as he went, but then started to review what Tony had shot so far so he could follow through.

Gibbs finished talking to the LEO, and headed over to Ducky.

Palmer was handing Ducky the thermometer as Gibbs asked, "Whadda' we got Duck?"

"A puzzle Jethro. This poor shriveled creature seems devoid of most of his lifeblood. In addition, his throat appears as if an animal had been at it…but…how did this man come to such a state of dehydration? It's as if the body had been spontaneously vacuumed! This is very odd indeed! But I shall know more when we get him back to autopsy." Ducky pulled the thermometer and frowned.

"What is it Doctor Mallard?" Jimmy asked as Ducky passed it back to him.

"This body is not old at all. The temperature indicates he could have been alive within the last two days…"

Gibbs took in the body again, and the artifact-like quality it had, being so shriveled.

"How the hell did he get like this?" Gibbs asked out loud.

"I am not sure," Ducky said, "but I intend to find out. One thing I can say for sure. This man suffered something quite horrific."

They all looked on at the twisted body, and Gibbs couldn't help but feel a terrible chill settle in his gut.

"I just think I need to see it to believe it," McGee said with a smile. "I mean…Samba? Really? Tony in those tight pants?" He glanced over at Kate as they finished up the crime scene bag-and-tag together. "Really?"

She blew a stray wisp off her face from under her regulation cap. " Why would that be so hard to believe? Well," she roller her eyes, "No. The pants I can't...don't want to picture, McGee." She gave a chuckle. Then, "I remember there was a boy who liked me in seventh grade…junior high. And he and his family were strict vegetarians and into animal rights…they were VERY against hurting any living thing."

"Let me guess," McGee chuckled, "he ended up eating something you cooked and got sick."

"No…" she smiled. "He did get sick, but it was because we had to dissect a frog in Biology. He wanted to be my lab partner, and offered to do all the work. And I sort of knew he liked me…but anyway he did end up puking. All over my Beverly Hills 90210 lunch box."

McGee actually laughed.

"Needless to say," she said with a half-smirk, "the poor guy lost the nerve to ask me out and I had to get a new lunchbox."

"Well," he said, zipping up his backpack, "I guess there's a possibility that Tony actually likes Samba, but it's likely more to impress this girl, so you've probably hit it right on the head. Still…"he smiled evilly, "I may need to see this for myself and get pictures for blackmail purposes."

She grinned at him deviously, "Totally, McGee."

They followed Gibbs back to the truck, as he talked to Morrow on the phone.

"You think he's serious about her?" Kate asked, trying not to sound jealous. She had a right to be curious. Tony was her partner too.

He shrugged. " I dunno…funny thing about Tony is…you just never know. Once you think you've got him all figured out…he just...confuses you."

She nodded half-heartedly, "I guess. I just think Tony's still too much of a frat boy to get serious with anyone."

McGee looked at her for a moment as she turned to grab an evidence bag. Sometimes he wondered if Kate had any idea how much she talked about Tony. But then again, so did he.

Since the body had left before them, they took all the bags and tossed them in the back.

As Gibbs got in, they also got in to the truck via the back doors.

Tony was asleep, not even hearing them get in. He was breathing deeply against the window at his side.

"Wow," McGee said softly. "He's out like a light."

Gibbs tilted his head as he started up the truck. "Yeah," he said with a small smile, belying the bit of irritation he felt for his SFA. After all…this was likely because Tony was having too much late night fun during the week. And he knew better. "Not for long," Gibbs said, turning forward and gunning the gas as the truck lurched forward.

Gibbs' driving had indeed woken him up, causing him to lightly smack his head on the window. Which elicited some snickering from the back seat. Tony had been annoyed but smiled anyway since it was kind of funny. He tried to shake out of the fatigue he felt as they got back to the Yard and settled back at their posts.

Everyone hunkered down into their usual roles and pursuits of information on their dead Marine.

Ducky had managed a print from the body, thought it was not easy, and they used it as another confirmation that the body was actually a match to the tags. He'd also cryptically told Gibbs he had to look into some information that might help them figure out what hat happened to Combs.

But still, at almost 5 pm, Tony still felt sluggish as he looked over Private Combs' lackluster finances. He knew if he didn't shake it off he might be tempted to just lie his face down on the keyboard. But that would not be pretty…drool all over the keyboard when he awoke, and keyboard imprint on his face… It was bad enough after he basically crapped out at a crime scene.

Hi sighed. He knew what the Boss was thinking but, he was wrong.

Tony's hands slowed on his keyboard. Wasn't he ?

He tried to recollect what he did last night but it took a moment for the fog that had settled on his brain earlier to lift. And yeah…last night had been an unbelievable night of sex with Renata. And…Joachim. One might even describe it as acrobatic. Which was impressive for a man his age. In fact, he pretty much ached everywhere for it. Even his hands! He smiled a little to himself. And then frowned. Should it not disturb him more he was sleeping with people of both sexes?

Thwack!

The light sting at the back of his head was followed by, "Care to share, DiNozzo?' Gibbs growled the words, but humor flashed in his eyes.

"Err, no Boss. Nothing to share. I mean, not about my personal life." He took in Gibbs staring at him, as Kate and McGee gathered their information to give Gibbs a rundown on Pvt. Combs. "Not that you were…asking…about my…"

Gibbs cocked his head at Tony expectantly.

"…personal life. Moving on Boss. I do have to share with you that our dead Private had nothing interesting going on in his finances…" Tony got up as McGee turned on the monitor, calling up Combs' military ID picture. "Neither a borrower or lender be. Or…were. Or was? And he wasn't. Lived on base housing, one car registered to him was used when he bought it and paid in full. Not tons in the bank but there was a modest savings of eleven grand."

Gibbs turned to the monitor, staring at the picture. "McGee."

"Combs was working on base, as an assistant to some of the instructors. He was one of the lucky numbers who signed up and went to Europe, and not the Middle East before being assigned back stateside. He's never seen combat. Clean record, nothing of note. Not even a speeding ticket," McGee finished glancing at Gibbs.

"I called his C.O. at the base. He told me that Pvt. Combs was a nice guy with a great sense of humor," Kate began.

As Tony looked at the screen again, an image of the Combs, the dark haired, blue-eyed man, flashed through his head, accompanied by a pain in his right eye. For a brief second, there was Combs, smiling with no small amount of charm… his six foot muscular frame leaning against a bar while lights flashed and music played around him. And then it was gone.

Tony rubbed his temple. What the hell was that? But the thought slipped away as he continued listening to what else Kate was saying…

"-and there was a girlfriend, but they broke up about four months ago because it had turned into a long distance thing with the post at Lejeune. They said it was a clean break and that Combs was dating casually on and off."

"I guess now it's more off…" Tony said but cringed when Gibbs narrowed his eyes in his direction.

"Ok," Gibbs said. "Tony, I want you and McGee to go to Lejeune tomorrow. Talk to everyone that Combs came across. Check his apartment. Get a flight in the morning. Kate and I will interview the family tonight and tomorrow."

"No! Boss-" Tony began.

"No?" Gibbs raised his one brow.

McGee and Kate both cringed for Tony.

Great. Tony inhaled before trying to spout off a reason, but Gibbs shot him down quickly.

"You got a hot date Tony?" Gibbs said softly, the tone that meant quite specifically, you are about to be so dead.

He grimaced. "No Boss."

"Good, DiNozzo, because I'd hate for the job to interfere with your social calendar." Gibbs walked away after the comment, as Tony glared after him.

The next morning saw them on a 6 am flight.

McGee had called Tony several times, and now was panicking because he never answered, and the gate was about to close. Gibbs would really kill him this time!

Finally! He sighed in relief when he heard his SFA softly apologizing to someone in the way in approach to their seats.

"Jesus," McGee said, looking at Tony as he sat down and took off his sunglasses. "What happened to you?"

Tony grimaced. And then tried poorly to smile at him for a moment. "Nothing. Drop it." He put the sunglasses away into his backpack and shoved it under the seat in front of him.

McGee let his eyes roam over the pale face, accentuated sharply by a red and purple bruise…no, several of them, along Tony's jawline and cheek on the right side. A small one that was less noticeable in the shape of a small oval rested on the other side. He didn't know what to say for just a moment. If he didn't know better he'd say someone had grabbed Tony's face…hard. He noticed Tony was also wearing a dark green turtleneck, which made him wonder if there was more to see. And who had done it.

"So…"McGee said, trying to sound casual. "Should I see the other guy?"

Tony sighed in annoyance, and looked at McGee for a long moment. "Tim, it's nothing. I had a little trouble in a bar last night. It was handled. The end. Okay?" he raised both brows hopefully.

McGee stared at him for a moment before blowing out and sitting back. It wasn't the look in Tony's eyes…it was the feeling he got. Tony was a master of smoke and mirrors, but Tim was starting to know him…or so he thought. He had at least gotten to feel out some of the hidden tells his SFA would give off…so minute…so subtle… To most, the performance would be seamless.

He wondered suddenly if this new lady friend had a few kinks. Or, if Tony was undercover again. It was…something.

McGee replied quietly," Yeah, Tony. I got it. But whatever is going on, I hope you know what you're doing."

The rest of the flight went without another word spoken.

Ducky smiled though it could not be seen on the other end of the call. "Feargal! My it is so good to hear yer voice my dear cousin!"

Palmer glanced at the x-rays on Pvt. Comb, still up awaiting Gibbs, and was cleaning up the tools from use in the autopsy earlier. But he was intrigued by this "cousin" that Ducky had suddenly mentioned earlier as they worked on their current guest. He was also puzzled by the little bits of accent that had crept back in to the Doctor's tongue as he spoke to said cousin. He was trying not to seem obvious about eavesdropping…maybe it was time to clean the floors…

"Yes…Oh that was quite the folly yes… but certainly Aunt Regina would have approved of your taking over the whole place. Indeed! Yes! It's been too long and I'd love to come for a visit…Mmm-hmm. Yes. That would be sensational. But Feargal, I was wondering…if I might ask you to come over here, to the States?"

Palmer almost dropped the mop he had started running about the floor around the M.E.

"You see….I have a case in my morgue right now…I believe it seems very like the one you had those years ago….the body has been thoroughly exsanguinated, and it almost appears the throat has been torn out. Very strange indeed. And by the look of things it happened quickly…" There was a ripe pause. "Feargal, are you still there?...Oh yes. Good. I will arrange it with my Director. We'll cover yer flight lad. Yes…yes." Ducky frowned for a moment. "I suppose so, aye. Can you tell me why ?"…

Finally Ducky glanced at Palmer for a moment, struggling not to smile since Jimmy was incapable of stealth. The older man's eyes darted around for a moment, light glistening off his glasses.

"Yes alright I will get the necessary supplies but I am intrigued …you will have to explain them to me when I see you….Yes. Indeed, Good! Alright cousin, aye we'll have the flight information soon and I will email it to you… Slainte'!"

Ducky hung up the phone, lost in thought for a moment. Then turned on the stool and his lips quirked just a little. "Mr. Palmer, we will be having a guest the day after tomorrow in our fine laboratory, so I suggest if you are going to mop…you actually use more than a teaspoon of disinfectant in the bucket?"

Palmer froze, and then looked at Ducky balefully.

But Ducky just laughed. "My cousin Doctor Feargal Evander is coming!"

Jimmy smiled, "That's wonderful Doctor. I take it he is a Doctor of Forensic Medicine as well?"

"Of a sort, Mr. Palmer, of a sort." Ducky's smile faltered. "He's a very interesting character, and is indeed a Doctor of Forensic Medicine, but he is also a Doctor of Theology, and …well…even much more than that. Some consider him…well, eccentric. But I absolutely idolized him growing up at home…he is 10 years my senior…but quite young at heart. And one of the reasons I pursued this line of work. I also adored his mother my beautiful Aunt Regina, who was quite interesting herself. Aunt Regina owned an actual castle back in Scotland…which is part of our heritage. Well, it's a small one but a castle none-the-less. And Feargal has taken it over now that his youngest brother Darach is moving to Italy. That's quite a scandal. But that's all discussion for another day."

Ducky turned and pulled a notepad from his desk, grabbed a pencil and started writing.

"I'm looking forward to meeting him," Jimmy said, while pouring a better amount of the proper cleaner into the bucket of water he'd been sloshing around the lab.

"Yes…" Ducky said, finishing the list and standing up. I'm glad for the opportunity for you to meet someone from my family as well."

The younger man flushed with pleasure at the kind words. And then looked with curiosity and Ducky gently clapped him on the shoulder and handed him the paper.

"Tomorrow, on your way in, go to Wilner's Herbalist and fetch these items. Oh I've no idea what they're for…yet. Anyway Feargal had a case somewhat like this one many years ago but it went unsolved. I am going to have Abigail pull all those records up and we will take a look. This could be the work of a serial killer… I thought it prudent to have Feargal come and see as well…his expertise might come in handy." With that Ducky nodded to himself and turned away. "Now let me prepare for Jethro, who undoubtedly will be interested in the tissue swabs we gave to Abby, as well as the records from Feargal's old case."

Jimmy was still taking in the items on the list. As he read it he frowned, and his eyes widened a bit. He looked in puzzled alarm after Ducky for a moment, but then shrugged and pocketed the list.