Warnings: Spoilers for Season 7 and Season 2.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait on the next installment. And I also apologize that it is a little bit shorter than the last couple of chapters, but I wanted to get something posted before the week was up. Hope you enjoy it!

Natalie had never been so happy to see a day end, between Shelby Kincaid's hissy fits and Abby's cold shoulder—she was emotionally spent. And she certainly wasn't in the mood to fight with the stuck bottom drawer on her desk. But earlier, when she had been fiddling around with it to see why it was stuck, she had discovered something lodged between the side of the bottom drawer and the bottom of the middle drawer.

After several minutes of yanking and pulling, Natalie managed to get, as it turned out, the notebook free. Frowning at it she wondered if it was Ziva's that had been left behind because it seemed more personal than case reports and contact lists. Flipping it open she realized that it was way more personal than she previously thought. It was a sketchbook of some sort. The first drawing being of Tony, looking off into the distance, smiling that trademark grin. Natalie flipped through pages and saw more drawings, of people she didn't recognize, of people she did. McGee standing with his hands in his pockets, Abby animatedly explaining something—Ducky, Palmer, all of them, sketched out into fine detail.

When she got to the end of the book she noticed that there was a label that clearly read, Property of Kate Todd. Natalie glanced across the bullpen at Tony's empty desk. He had disappeared about an hour or so ago but she knew he was still in the building. She pursed her lips together in deep thought for a moment. She knew that Kate Todd at one point had been a member of the team—they had mentioned her name a couple of times in passing but Natalie wasn't sure where Kate was now. And surely she would want her sketch pad back, right?

Deciding that it wouldn't take very long, Natalie got to work on finding a current location for Special Agent Caitlin Todd.

"How much longer do you think Gibbs is going to leave you in charge?" McGee asked as the partners rode the elevator up to the squad room. "Not that you're doing a terrible job...just...wondering, you know?"

"Natalie comes back with one more injury—he'll probably break my neck," Tony mumbled, rubbing his temple. "Have you heard anymore about the crew of that ship?"

McGee shook his head. "No. Rumor going around is that the crew is dead, killed by Mossad—or perished in a shipwreck. Either way, they aren't alive anymore. Vance is keeping Dunham out there for a little bit more but other than that there's nothing else he can do. We don't have any authority to go looking for that crew."

Tony sighed and nodded his head. "The terrorist that Rivkin was supposed to kill—any word on what happened to him?"

"Haven't heard anything yet."

"Well, until we hear—Gibbs will be leaving me in charge."

Tony stepped out of the elevator first and headed towards his desk. He was surprised that Natalie was still in the building. He told her that she could go home about an hour ago while he filed their reports and wrapped this case up. "Get out of here, Nat," he snapped playfully at her as the two men entered the bullpen. Her shoulders suddenly shook, like he had frightened her, and his brow furrowed. "Natalie? You okay?"

Natalie looked up at him, sheepishly and nodded her head with a forced smile. "Yeah. You just startled me. Thought…thought you went home."

"I was filing our reports," Tony reminded her. Something wasn't right, he didn't know her that well, but judging from her body language, she was off. "You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah," she said, with that same forced smile. "I was just…packing up to go home."

Tony glanced at McGee, who also had a worried expression on his face. They stood there and watched as Natalie packed up, shutting her computer down and finding her backpack. She slung it over her shoulder and picked something up off her desk. "By the way…I…found this," she said, softly, holding it out to Tony. "I'm not sure whoshe wanted to have it but…I know it wouldn't have been me."

He looked down at the plain black notebook and he felt his heart leap into his throat when he realized he recognized it. Kate. Thought Gibbs got your only sketchbook. Guess not. Tony looked up to see Natalie almost in the elevator. He raced after her, throwing his hand between the door and the frame to stop the door from closing. Slowly he stepped inside, letting the door swish shut behind him. He opened the book and glanced at the photos for a moment, smiling sadly. "Been a while since I've seen this. You know…she never would let us look at what she was doing…even though she was good. She always tried to make it like it was some big secret."

Natalie's grey eyes flickered towards the book. "It was lodged between drawers in my desk…that's why it was always stuck. It must have fallen when the desk was cleared out after Officer David left. I…wanted to return it to Agent Todd so I…I looked up her current address."

"And found out it was in a cemetery in Indiana."

"Yes."

Tony swallowed the bile in his throat and shut the notebook. He felt that pain, that cold, numb feeling run through his body—the same one after Kate had been shot and was lying there on the rooftop, dead. "It's been five years and there are some days that don't go by without me still thinking about it, about her. What could have been done differently to prevent it."

Natalie looked away and then slumped against the wall, turning her eyes towards his. "How…how did she die?"

"Sniper. She was shot from long range through her skull. Death was instant."

"Why?"

"Cause Gibbs pain—get a mole into NCIS—revenge—take your pick."

Natalie paused briefly and Tony saw a sense of understanding run through her eyes, as she made the connection. "Kate…was the agent that was murdered by Mossad."

Tony licked his lips. "Yes. Ari was a double agent, gone rogue, he killed her mostly because Gibbs reminded him of his father. Tried to take out Abby and myself in the lab but I managed to at least protect her. I failed Kate."

"Who was Ari's father?"

"Eli David."

"So…that means…"

"Ziva was his half-sister."

Natalie tried to wrap her brain around the twisted web of lies that had been laid out for Gibbs, Tony, and McGee back then by Mossad. It made sense now why Gibbs was desperately trying to protect all of them. "Ari is dead," she stated, not guessed.

Tony nodded his head. "Yeah. Shot to death in Gibbs' basement. He says that he did it but I have my theories."

"You do?"

"You didn't know Ziva."

"She would have killed her own brother?"

"If her father ordered her to—yeah I think she would have."

Natalie clenched her fists at her sides, felt her heart pounding. How could anyone defend her like Abby was defending Ziva? After everything that she knew—the Mossad officer probably only acted like their friend to gain their trust.

Tony reached out and took her hand, squeezing it. He handed her the notebook. "I think Kate would have wanted Abby to have this. They were close."

"You're going to have me give it to her?"

"You found it. Not me."

Natalie hugged the notebook to her chest and promised him that she would take good care of it until she could give it to Abby.

Tony smiled at her, gently. "Come on—I'll walk you out."

"Wait…one more thing—would she have liked me?"

"Kate?"

"Yes."

Tony paused. She reminded him of Kate so much that at times his heart ached. Not to mention in low lights with her hair pulled back a certain way she was a dead ringer for his old partner. He winced. Maybe dead ringer wasn't the best choice of words. "Kate…she…she was a lot like you, actually. I think she would have liked you—a lot."

Natalie sighed and smiled sadly. "Maybe you can tell me more about her sometime."

"Yeah," he replied, softly, "maybe I could."

"How about tonight? There's this really cute little Thai place down the street from my apartment."

Tony couldn't remember the last time he had such a comfortable relationship with a partner. Surely not with Ziva and at times his relationship with McGee was strained thanks to their fierce competition with the other to outshine the other in Gibbs' eyes. But with Natalie it was just…well…comfortable. And he liked that. "Sure. Just let me go grab my things. I'll meet you at your place in about an hour?"

Natalie grinned. "Okay. Bring a movie."

Rule 12, he reminded himself yet again, rule 12. But this isn't…this isn't breaking rule 12. We aren't dating! Tony took a deep breath. He knew that if the others around the office found out he was going over to his partner's apartment, they wouldn't be gossiping about Thai food and movie. He just needed to make sure that no one found out to prevent the rumors from flying.

McGee stumbled off the elevator at one o'clock the next morning. Gibbs had been cryptic on the phone about why he needed the team to come in. All McGee knew was that he had just gotten home and just fallen asleep when his cell phone rang.

He dropped his gear down by his desk and groaned. Exhaustion came hand in hand with this job—especially if you worked for one Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Not that McGee minded working for Gibbs, it was just…some nights he'd like to get a full eight hours.

"Probie, what's going on?" Tony's voice pulled his attention towards the entrance of the squad room, where the SFA was striding in with Natalie behind him. "Gibbs sounded…well…urgent on the phone."

"Your guess is as good as mine," McGee said with a shrug. "You in your gym clothes?" he questioned, noticing that Tony had on his Ohio State hoodie and sweat pants that he normally ran or went to the gym in.

Tony frowned. "Yeah…I…ah wasn't at home when the call came in."

McGee was even more confused because when Tony left he said that he was going to pick up Thai for dinner and then watch a movie. Of course, his first red flag that something was up should have been the food. The senior field agent never picked up Thai food for dinner. "Where…were you?"

"At my apartment," Natalie answered, casually. "We had take-out and watched a movie."

Tony tossed his partner a look as if to say don't go there, but McGee had already gone there in his mind. Damn it, Tony, Gibbs is going to kill you if he finds out, the younger agent thought with a slight panic. He knew that it wasn't the first time that Tony had skirted and crossed the line in regards to rule 12. First, there was Paula Cassidy and then, well, the rumors were going around that he was sleeping with Ziva—those had started though the summer that Gibbs was taking his Mexican sabbatical as the two men liked to refer it too.

McGee tried to read Natalie's expression but it was neutral. Tony had spouted rule 12 off to her about a week ago when Agent Greene had flirted with her in the bullpen. He'd thought it was because, well…it's what Gibbs would have done…now…

"Let's go!" Gibbs shouted, interrupting his thoughts. "We got a dead body."

"Where…exactly…" Tony asked, yawning.

"Autospy," Gibbs replied, studying the SFA for a moment. "You go home yet, DiNozzo?"

Immediately Tony was awake, his green eyes wide. "No…"

Gibbs reached out and slapped him on the back of the head. "Do I have to recite the rules to ya, DiNozzo?"

"No, boss," Tony replied, softly, "I'll…ah…give myself a refresher course."

"Good. Come on. Ducky's waiting."

McGee watched as Tony rubbed the back of his head, leading the way behind Gibbs. Of course Gibbs was going to know just by looking at Tony. The lead agent had always been able to read all of them like books—even when they thought there was no possible way of knowing. Someday McGee was going to have to ask the boss how he did it. Tony had managed to find some ways of sneaking by setting up bugs on their phones and in the bullpen when he'd been team leader, but even then he wasn't as good as walking up on them as Gibbs. They rode the elevator down in silence and entered autopsy. Ducky and Jimmy were working on a body…or what was left of a body.

Ducky looked up at the team with a bit of a weary, tired smile. "Ah…the cavalry has arrived."

"What have you got, Ducky?" Gibbs asked as the team stood around the table.

"Meet our latest guest," Ducky said. "Who has unfortunately spent some time at the bottom of the sea for the past three months."

"Glad I ate that Thai food for dinner earlier," Tony snarked, wincing at the gooey sight.

Ducky chuckled. "Yes, well our marine here was a tasty dinner for the creatures of the saltwater variety."

Gibbs frowned. "Our tasty dinner have a name?"

"Ah, Staff Sargent Daniel Cryer," Palmer said, glancing at a piece of paper.

"McGee…find out Cryer's last post," Gibbs ordered.

"On it boss," McGee replied, quickly sprinting out of the room.

Tony glanced at Natalie and then at Gibbs. "What do you want me and Callahan to do?"

Gibbs gave them a soft grin, "You're taking Callahan on her first military transport."

"To…where?"

"Indian Ocean…that's where Cryer's body turned up. Don't forget your gum, DiNozzo."