Warnings: Slight spoilers for "Code of Conduct", "Faith", and "Ignition".
A/N: Happy weekend! Here's a new chapter for your reading pleasure. Hope everyone enjoys it! Please let me know what you think!
amaia- I have no intentions of abandoning this story. Updates just might take a while longer while my muse is elsewhere :). That line was also my favorite, guess I'm just a sap for the romance stuff like that haha.
Guest- Tony and Natalie are going to admit their feelings for each other soon. But both of them had just accepted that they have feelings for one another and need a little more time to move forward, they have to wrap their brains around this, especially Tony. This is the first time he's been in love since Jeanne and he's nervous that his relationship with Natalie could end up a mess like it did with Jeanne.
"Where's the attractive female agent? I'd rather have her be the one to talk to me," Victor Tillman snarked when Tim entered Interrogation.
Tony shifted, uneasily next to Gibbs in the observation room. "Guy was drooling all over her. I think he tried everything in the book to get into her pants..." He looked at his boss to see the older man frowning at him slightly. "Sorry, boss, I'll focus on the case."
Gibbs grunted and sipped his coffee. It was hard not to slap the senior field agent on the back of his head, but the truth was, he was just as disgusted that the guy had been hitting on Natalie too. But probably for different reasons than Tony...
"Agent Callahan is busy elsewhere. I'm Agent McGee," Tim said, spreading a file out on the table in front of him. "You told Agent DiNozzo that it wasn't your pack that Sayers was using in the flight... except we found components in the pack that you've patented."
"Hmmm I bet she's busy... I saw the way her partner looks at her," Tillman countered, frowning. "What is it about women? They'd rather be with guys like that for a quick office romp than smart guys like us."
"Can you please... just answer my question... if it wasn't your pack, who's pack was it?" Tim said, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.
Tony visibly bristled. If anything were to happen between him and Natalie it was not going to be just a quick office romp. He might have a reputation but she was too good for those… he yelped when he felt Gibbs' hand connect with the back of his head. "What?"
Gibbs smirked and watched as Tony rubbed the back of his head, gently. "Go make sure Callahan took those pain killers."
"You know I bet it was my blasted ex-wife," Tillman was still rambling. "She's pinched me for every penny I have."
"Does your ex-wife have any of your packs?" Tim asked.
"She owns half of the bloody company! I knew I shouldn't have shared my research with her!"
Tony winced. "Rule 12, eh boss?"
Gibbs chuckled. "Always did say married couples shouldn't work together."
"So… which one of our lovebirds gave Sayers the faulty pack?" Tony asked. Gibbs looked at him incredulously, propelling the senior field agent into action. "Right. I'm going to go get to work on figuring that out as well as making sure Natalie took those painkillers."
Natalie had her eyes closed while she rolled her shoulders when she felt Tony's presence behind her. His cologne hit her nostrils first, followed by the familiar sense of security she often felt when he was that close. "Do you need something, Agent DiNozzo?" she asked, coyly.
Tony leaned on her desk, his mouth close to her ear, and he smiled. "Just wondering if you got anything on those license plates yet," he stated looking at what she was working on on her computer screen.
"Maryland plates," Natalie answered her eyes opening. She reached back to knead the knots in her neck. "Registered to a Lanny Carothers, from what I could find, it appears that he was a private investigator. Abby was running a facial recognition on the photograph I took, but judging by his driver's license... I'd say that it was the same guy."
"No surprise that a private investigator was hanging out, following us around," Tony chuckled, resisting the urge to start massaging her neck. "Are you having an affair that I don't know about, Callahan?"
Natalie laughed and looked up at him with a grin. "Are you?"
Tony probably would have kissed her for the first time if they weren't in the middle of the squad room, in the middle of the day, but he held back... somehow. It had also taken a lot of will power not to strike Victor Tillman when the inventor had been drooling and hitting on his partner at the warehouse earlier that day.
"Excuse me," a voice said, interrupting them. Both Tony and Natalie looked up to see a very attractive woman standing in front of Natalie's desk. "I believe that you are holding my client."
"Oh, well I'll hold anything you want," Tony teased, taking her card. He squealed when Natalie's elbow connected with his gut.
"Charming... you must be Special Agent DiNozzo," the lawyer said. "Do you think one of you can take me to see my client now?"
Tony shoved her card into his pocket. "I'll take you, Ms. M. Allison Hart," he snapped, straightening his shoulders and leading her away from Natalie's desk. Gibbs was already a little ticked off about this case... just wait until the lawyer was added to the mix.
Natalie watched as her partner led the lawyer towards the interrogation room where McGee was questioning Tillman. She pursed her lips together and decided to do a little research on M. Allison Hart. She had dug up some information when Tony returned, looking a bit flustered. "Uh-oh, did the lawyer make some waves?"
"Oh yeah," Tony said, grabbing his coat and throwing it on. "Come on. Gibbs wants us to go pick up Vanessa Tillman."
"Victor's ex-wife that owns half his company?" Natalie replied, slipping into her coat. She limped to her feet.
"If Victor didn't give Sayers the pack... she must have," Tony surmised.
Natalie followed him into the elevator. "And if she didn't?"
Tony sighed and hit the button for the garage. "We have a big, big problem on our hands."
She leaned against the wall of the cab while it descended. "Do you think she would give Sayers a faulty pack just to frame her ex-husband?"
He shot her a grin. "It's always the wife."
"Oh. Right. I forgot... the DiNozzo theory..."
"Hey... usually I'm not wrong about this..."
"You were wrong just three months ago... at Halloween... it was the step-daughter not the wife."
"So I had an off week."
Natalie gave him a soft smile. "It wasn't because it was Halloween and you hate Halloween?"
Tony shrugged and stepped out of the elevator. "Perhaps."
"You okay, Tony?" she asked as they got into the car.
"Fine," he said, looking at her with smile. Okay, so Victor Tillman suggesting that you'd go for a quick romp angered me...
Natalie was looking out the window at the passing trees, lost in thought. "What do you think Vanessa Tillman saw in him?"
Tony chuckled. "Judging from what I saw... nothing... maybe she wanted the money? The fame from inventing something..."
"Sounds like they fancied themselves as the next Wright brothers."
"Yeah. Except I don't think the Wright brothers murdered anyone."
Natalie pursed her lips. It seemed rather ridiculous to her that Vanessa Tillman would kill someone just to get back at her husband, however, she had been in law enforcement long enough to know that anything was possible.
Tony turned onto the highway. "Did you dig up any information about the lawyer?" When his partner shot him a funny look, he laughed, "Come on, Nat, I know you... the minute Ms. Hart left the squad room you were digging up any dirt you could find on her."
Her cheeks flushed slightly under his gaze. "Ok, so I did. And... I really didn't find much. Not sure why she would know our team."
His eyes shifted back to the highway and he sighed. "Gibbs, myself... we've pissed a lot of people off."
"Yeah... but none of the cases I found crossed paths with NCIS."
"Maybe, you're not digging deep enough."
"Or... I'm just being paranoid."
Tony looked at her seriously. "Your probie gut tingling?"
Natalie shrugged. "Something just doesn't sit right with me about her. Like... she knows too much."
"Then keep digging," Tony told her, because he had a feeling they weren't done with Ms. Hart just yet.
McGee was never happier to have an interrogation stop than he had been that afternoon. Between answering, or actually throwing out sarcastic remarks at his questions, Victor Tillman had done nothing but speculate about Natalie's love life. His obsession with the female agent just proved that the guy really, really needed to get some.
Of course, if Tillman did try to make a move on Natalie before this was all said and done, McGee couldn't wait to see Tony's reaction. It was typical Tony, getting protective of his female partners... jealous when another man looked at them, flirted with them... dated them...
"What kind of name is Mallison?" Abby asked, breaking his concentration.
"It's actually M. Allison Hart," McGee said looking up to see Abby looking on the lawyer's website. "I think they forgot to use some puncuation."
"Oh. Well... that makes more sense."
"Why are you looking at her website?"
Abby shrugged. "You said that she ruffled Gibbs feathers."
McGee cocked an eyebrow. "Well, she certainly lit into him about how Tony and I were busted breaking into the police compound... that bar fight Tony and Natalie were involved in back at Christmas..."
"Hey! They didn't start that! That guy groped Natalie and she punched him! Tony was defending his partner."
"Yeah, well she didn't seem concerned about that."
Abby frowned. "I don't like when people mess with my team, Timmy. And this M. Allison is doing just that."
McGee shook his head. "She's a lawyer, Abs. I wouldn't worry too much about her."
Jimmy, who had been looking in a microscope, looked up and smiled at her. "No one really likes lawyers, Abs. I think when someone becomes one they realize that people are going to automatically hate them."
"Whatever. Did you find anything?"
"No. I still can't determine if Sayers was killed with the rat poison or not. Did you find anything?"
"Well, Sayers couldn't have been dead if he was flying the pack..."
"So, what did kill him?"
Abby gestured towards the components and debris on her table. "If they kerosene leaked into the peroxide tank... then well... kaboom! All you would need is a movable valve, and this rocket belt would self-destruct."
Jimmy looked at the piece she had picked up in her hand. "So how does this valve get reversed?"
"This isn't a valve, Palmer," Abby replied, with a knowing look on her face.
McGee picked up on where she was going with this and said, "It's a smoking gun, and whoever made it is our killer."
Vanessa Tillman was smart, attractive and extremely snarky when it came to her ex-husband. But she did acknowledge that the man was smart, incredibly smart. "Do you have any idea how annoying it can be to spend all your time with a 'brilliant man'? He can never listen to an idea that wasn't his. So stubborn."
Natalie shifted her eyes towards Tony for a moment. He might be stubborn but he always listened to her. "Never been married," she finally answered. "What exactly was he opposed too?"
"I wanted to experiment with new fuels," Vanessa replied. "Victor was myopic, and focused only on his prototypes."
"Did Sayers fly for you?" Tony asked.
"Yes. I hired him to test some of my products, but the last test flight was well over a month ago."
"Was Sayers also giving you information about your husband?"
Vanessa glared at him and changed the subject. "Sayers was a good pilot. And he had experience with jet-packs."
Natalie pointed to one of the packs. "This pack using the same fuel as the pack that Sayers was flying."
"Are you implying that I gave the pack to Sayers?"
Tony pulled back slightly on his partner's arm, to try to diffuse the situation a little, when the door opened and shoe heels could be heard on the concrete floor. Both NCIS agents turned to see Hart striding into the room, snapping, "That's exactly what they're implying. Don't say another word Vanessa."
Natalie shifted and looked suspiciously at Hart. "Your Mrs. Tillman's lawyer too? Isn't that a conflict of interest?"
Hart smiled, slyly at her. "My interest is justice, Agent Callahan."
"Well, what a coincidence, that's ours too, Ms. Hart," Tony said, grinning at her.
"Then we should get along just fine, Mr. DiNozzo," Hart said, returning the grin. "Now. If you have any other inquiries, for either of my clients, feel free to contact me."
Tony and Natalie were silently dismissed. As the pair walked, Tony guided his partner out of the warehouse by gently touching her elbow. "Gibbs," he whispered, leaning in, "is not going to like this."
Natalie would have to agree. She knew that lawyer was going to cause the team trouble.