Warnings: Spoilers for Season 7 and Season 2, a still not so nice Abby

A/N: Sorry for the long wait on the next installment. Hope you enjoy!

NCIS Fan- For someone that told Senior that Tony was the best agent he worked with, Gibbs sure doesn't treat him like that at times. Although, it was better this season. Hoping it continues to get better.

Guest- Glad you are enjoying the story :) And yeah, it's going to be a slow reveal of their relationship. Rome wasn't built in a day lol

"Heard the entire crew was dead. Lost at sea."

"Yeah, right. We both know that David did what she does best."

Natalie noticed that the two agents seated at the table in the staff lounge looked up at her when she entered and immediately stopped talking. It felt like she had wandered into the lunch room just when someone was bad mouthing her and immediately shut up upon seeing her. She smiled sweetly at them and went to make herself a cup of coffee. It had been a long morning. McGee was still trying to track down the truck that had struck Petty Officer Peters and Tony had her tracking down Ms. Kincaid. She wasn't exactly sure what he was doing—making sure they rest of them were working?

She went to the coffee pot and poured herself a mug. It wasn't the best coffee…Gibbs often referred to it as not coffee but it was the best she had at the moment. Behind her she heard the agents murmuring and only caught a few words. When she looked up she saw that one of them was standing next to her.

"Hey, Natalie," he said, tossing her a smile. "Gibbs and DiNozzo treating you okay?"

"Treating me fine," she assured him, knowing that it was just a conversation starter.

"Oh, well, that's good," he said, grinning. "I'd hate for them to run you from the agency before I get to take you out on that date."

Natalie laughed. She had already turned him down—twice—but then she thought of the conversation they were having when she came in. "I might be convinced to go for coffee." His eyes peaked with interest. "If—you let me in on what you meant when you said David did what she does best."

He chuckled, nervously, and scratched behind his ear. "Oh well…you know…she's Mossad and all."

"Let's pretend that I don't know."

"The crew of that ship is dead," Tony interrupted. "Probably killed by Mossad. Is that what you were going to say, Greene?"

"Come on, DiNozzo. You know that's what happened," Greene said with a laugh. He coughed to cover it up when he saw the dark look in Tony's eyes. "At least that's the rumor going around anyways."

Tony ran his tongue over his lips and looked ready to explode, until Natalie spoke up. "Did you need me?" she asked, forcing the senior field agent to turn and look at her. "McGee have any luck finding that truck yet?"

"No," he replied, shaking his head, "but I did locate Ms. Kincaid. You and I are going to go pick her up."

"Okay," she said, downing the rest of her coffee in one sip. She put her mug into the sink. "Let's go."

Tony, eyed her cautiously now that she had consumed that much coffee in a matter of seconds, turned to go, following behind Natalie.

Greene shouted after them, "What about my coffee date?"

"It was Tony that told me what I wanted to know—not you. So I guess he gets the coffee date."

As she walked away, Tony pat Greene on the shoulder and smiled, "Better luck next time."

Shelby Kincaid was a vulgar, violent little thing, Tony concluded while watching her shout at the observation glass. Dressed in shorts that were too high and too tight and a top that was too revealing, one wouldn't think she would have been able to fight off one federal agent, let alone two. It had taken both Natalie and Tony to bring her down when their questions sent her over the edge.

Natalie suddenly reached out and cut the feed pumping into observation. "I've had enough of listening to that. How much longer are we going to let her sit there?"

Tony chuckled and reached out, running his thumb over her swollen lip. "Are you just a little sore that our Miss Daisy Duke in there sucker punched you?"

"No. I could take her."

"Didn't say you couldn't."

Natalie scowled at him and stepped away from his touch. "You guys should have told me I was going to get more injuries on the job than I ever got working in Boston when I signed on the dotted line."

Tony grinned at her, lightly. "Boss did ask if you were up for a challenge."

"Yeah," she responded, playfully, "I thought he was referring to you."

"Very funny," he snapped, opening the door to observation and entering Interrogation.

Shelby finally stopped her vulgar tongue lashing and spat, "It's about time! I'm going to sue all your asses for leaving me, hand cuffed, to a chair in here for more than an hour!"

Tony sat down across the table from her as Natalie slammed the door shut. "You assaulted a federal agent, Ms. Kincaid. And you're the suspect in a hit and run. Right now, we have every right to hold you."

"I told you that I didn't run Howard over! If you'd check my alibi you'd see I was working!"

"Your boss said you clocked in two hours late," Natalie countered, leaning against the wall with her arms over her chest. "That's plenty of time to hit your ex-boyfriend."

Shelby glared at her. "If I had hit my ex-boyfriend—he'd be dead."

Tony pursed his lips together and pulled out a file. "You took a large sum of money out of your bank account two days ago. Down payment for a hit, Ms. Kincaid?"

When she went off on them again, screaming and fighting against her cuffs, Tony slid the paper back into the file and stood up, gesturing for Natalie to follow. He slammed the door to Interrogation shut and rubbed his forehead. His gut was telling him that Shelby had paid the driver of the truck to run her ex-boyfriend down but until they uncovered the money trail and found the driver, they had nothing. "Let's go see if Abby and McGee have come up with anything," he finally said, breaking the silence.

Natalie matched his stride and they got into the elevator. Tony hit the button for the lab, and the silence was killing her, so she blurted, "What did Greene mean by she's Mossad and all?" She gasped when the car jerked to a stop when the senior field agent hit the emergency switch, plunging them into dim light. "I mean…I know you said...you said that the crew is dead…but how do you know that? And how did Greene know that?"

"Ziva was a trained assassin," Tony said, turning to face her. "Trained to leave no trace."

"So…if they bartered for transport on that freighter," Natalie guessed, "they killed the entire crew?"

Tony crossed his arms over his chest and studied her for a moment. She had seen things that appalled her, he was sure, when she was a cop in Boston, but Mossad…they were an entirely different monster. "If they got in the way of the mission, then yes. The crew could give them up. They had to be taken care of."

Natalie looked away for a moment, slightly uncomfortable about the tight quarters and how close Tony was to her. "Aren't you worried that Gibbs and Vance are getting in the way?" she asked, rising her eyes to look at him. His face was nothing but hard lines and she saw his jaw twitch. "If they keep digging…Eli David is going to be aware and who's going to stop him from sending another Kidon agent to take out who he deems is standing in his way."

"Yes," Tony told her, honestly. "I'm worried. But Gibbs and Vance are big boys. They can take care of themselves."

"I don't understand," she said with a shake of her, "why such the interest in what Eli David is doing? That mission is happening thousands of miles away."

"Gibbs is protecting the team," Tony said, his eyes hardening.

Natalie still wasn't sure why or what Gibbs was protecting them from. "From what, exactly?"

Tony let his eyes roam over her face. In the dim light like this, with her hair pulled back into a low ponytail and her bangs swept to one side, he could almost imagine Kate standing there. "From Mossad and their trail of bodies behind them."

"Mossad…murder an agent before?"

"Yes—could have been two if Officer Rivkin hadn't been drunk that night he attacked me."

"Who was the other agent?"

Tony hit the emergency switch, ending the conversation. "We have a case to close, Callahan," he snapped as the doors opened to the lab.

Natalie stood there in the elevator cab trying to process what just happened and failing to come up with any answers. She could sense that Tony was closing up to her, that whatever secrets he was keeping were painful. She jolted back to reality when the elevator signaled it was going to close and vaulted out of the cab, after the senior field agent.

"All right, Abs, talk to me," Tony was saying with a smirk. All hints of their conversation gone from his face. "Tell me something good."

"How about the owner of the truck?" Abby said, smiling. She handed him a piece of paper. "Oh…when you see Gibbs…tell him I was able to project the course of the Damocles. We should be able to find it now."

Tony paused and swallowed. A hard look came in his eyes. He took a deep breath and was about to say something when Gibbs appeared. "Damocles went down—there were no survivors."

Abby's faced hardened at the team leader. "Are you sure about that? Have any bodies been found?"

Gibbs shook his head. "No."

"Then you don't know for sure that Ziva and her team where on that ship."

"DiNozzo."

"Ah, yeah boss?"

Gibbs turned towards his SFA. "Where you at with the Peters' case?"

Tony glanced at Natalie and her swollen lip. "Ex-girlfriend is up stairs. Real hot head. McGee found some suspicious activity on her bank account. Boss said she was late for work yesterday. No alibi for the time of the accident."

"Well," Gibbs said, eyeing his two agents, "what are you waiting for? Go pick up the driver!"

"On it boss," Tony replied, gesturing for Natalie to follow him as he left the lab. "Let's go, Nat."

Natalie rolled her eyes and jogged after him. "I really wish you'd stop calling me that!"

Gibbs waited until they were gone and then spoke, "Abby. We have Intel that Ziva and her team were on that ship. I know that's not what you want to hear right now. I can't afford to send my team out there on a hunch that she might be alive. It's far too dangerous. Especially with Natalie being a probie."

"Ziva could need our help!" Abby protested with a pout.

"Ziva—put a gun to Tony's chest two months ago," Gibbs snapped. "I'm not about to send him after her!"

"Gibbs! You never raise your voice at me!"

"Yeah, I know. I've tried to be patient with you, Abs. But I'm losing it. No one is asking you to like her—but Natalie's here to stay," Gibbs stated, just before leaving, "Time to get used to it Abs."

Tony pulled the Charger up outside of what locals could call a watering hole and tourists would call a dive. He shut the car down and noticed the pick-up truck in front of him. It had a busted back fender, just like they had discovered in the traffic cam footage. License plate matched too. This was their truck.

"Are we just going to stare at it?" Natalie asked, breaking into his thoughts.

"Sorry. Just trying to figure out how a middle class kid, like Peters, got involved with a white trash girl from the sticks," Tony replied.

"Easy," Natalie said opening her and getting out of the car. "The sex was probably good."

Tony glared at her. "Men are not all about sex."

Natalie smiled at him, coyly. "Really? Then how do you explain your flipping through GSM while you think I'm not paying attention?"

"Research. We men might not be all about sex—but we like to stay up to speed on keeping the ladies happy."

"Right. And I suppose it doesn't hurt your reputation? That you're a sex machine?"

"How do you know about that? McGee?"

Natalie laughed as he opened the door to the bar. "No. I picked your phone up the other day. It was your frat buddy Steve. He asked if the sex machine was there. So, of course I needed to hear the story."

Tony mentally made a note to call Steve back and kill him for letting his new partner in on that information. He glared at her slightly, while she grinned at him, as they walked towards the bar. He fished out his creds and held it up to the bar tender. "Agents DiNozzo and Callahan, NCIS. We're looking for Wyatt Barns."

"Aw, hell," the bartender said in a southern accent. "What did he do this time?"

"Mr. Barns known for getting into trouble?" Natalie asked.

"Yeah! And he's always bringing it to my bar!"

"Where is he, tough guy?" Tony snapped.

The bartender pointed towards the back of the smoky bar, at a table where three men sat drinking cheap beer. Tony glanced at Natalie and the two made their way through the maze of rickety tables and chairs. "Wyatt Barns?" Tony asked when they got to the table.

A young kid, maybe twenty-one years old glanced up. Messy blonde hair, brown eyes, and a frown on his face. "Yeah? Who's asking?"

"NCIS," Tony replied, holding out his badge.

"Who?" Barns retorted.

"Naval Criminal Investigative Service."

"Never heard of you. What are you like the rejects from the FBI or something?" Barns cracked with a grin as his buddies laughed.

Tony laughed along sarcastically for a second before pulling Barns up by the scruff of his collar. "Let's go wise guy."

Barns sputtered. "What for? I didn't do anything!"

"Your truck was involved in a hit and run on a Petty Officer," Natalie told him while Tony dragged him through the bar.

"What! I didn't hit anyone!" Barns protested. "Son of a bitch! Shelby!"

Tony paused and glared at him. "You know Ms. Kincaid?"

Barns scoffed. "Yeah. We went to high school together. She asked to borrow my truck, paid me a lot of cash to do so. I needed the moey to fix the fender. Swear to God I didn't think she was going to try to kill anyone!"

"You didn't notice the impression of a body on the hood when she returned the car?" Natalie deadpanned.

"No! Geez! Let go! I'll tell you what you want to know!"

"Come on, smart ass," Tony said, pulling the young man through the bar and outside. "You're coming back to NCIS to give us a statement."

Barns groaned as Tony put him in the back of the Charger. As Natalie made the arrangements for the truck to be towed back to the garage, Tony was grateful that their apprehending of Barns went a lot smoother than their apprehending of Kincaid.