Warnings: Spoilers for Season 7

A/N: Wrapping up the first part in the Reynosa arc, don't worry, second part will be soon but Tim has to recover first, and it's time to move forward a little bit on Tony and Natalie's relationship. As always, please let me know what you think and enjoy!

It didn't matter that their hit man was dead—Gibbs was still hovering around them like a protective mother bear. He even made Tony and Natalie wear vests while at the crime scene. Tony didn't feel like mentioning that any killer could just shoot them through the skull… but that brought up too many awful memories of the day Kate died. He just chose to grumble under his breath when the vest made it difficult to move and do his job collecting evidence.

Natalie was taking it better having to wear a vest at the crime scene better than Tony. She adjusted her vest underneath her windbreaker and pointed out the bullet hole in the back of their dead hit man. "You see this… they shot him to signify that he will never turn his back on them again."

"So we just have to make sure we never walk with our backs turned," Tony quipped, snapping photographs. "Sounds like a good time."

"Ah, I see your mood has not improved, Anthony," Ducky teased as he arrived on scene, solo. He quickly explained why he was alone. "Mister Palmer has stayed with Timothy so he is not alone at the hospital… well besides his NCIS protection detail of course. This seems like a case I can handle alone."

Natalie saw Tony's features soften, sadness entering his green eyes as he asked, softly, "How's Tim?"

Ducky reached out and pat Tony on the shoulder, affectionately. "He is going to make a full recovery, Anthony. Don't you fret… your Probie will be back in no time."

Tony exhaled a large, deep breath and nodded his head. Even though the accident hadn't been his fault… he still blamed himself… and then there was the guilt of feeling relieved that it had been Tim in the car with him and not Natalie. It easily could have been her since they rode to the crime scene together that morning…. "Looks like our hit man was walking away from the lovely Ms. Reynosa or whoever she hired to take care of him. Sadly, he didn't get very far."

"Yes. Single gunshot wound through the back, straight through his heart. The shot of an expert killer I'd assume," Ducky surmised as he leaned down to examine the body.

"FBI was looking into Reynosa's ties to D.C," Natalie pointed out. "I found very few but it appears she's trying to branch out."

"Yeah… and take us down in the process," Tony grumbled.

Tobias Fornell appeared suddenly then, with that slight smirk on his face he always had when speaking to Tony. "Wouldn't be the first time someone was out to get you now, would it DiNutso? Agent Callahan, I don't believe we've met, Tobias Fornell, FBI," he said holding his hand out to shake hers. "Jethro says you should have been a profiler for the FBI. If you ever need a change… you know get away from these two cowboys… let me know."

Natalie smiled, friendly at him. "So far these two cowboys have been treating me pretty well. Even if Tony is cranky and Gibbs is on the warpath this last week."

Tony glared at Fornell instead of directing his fury onto his partner. "Listen, I just don't like being locked up… I'm not scared of Ms. Reynosa. Let her come after me, I can take care of myself. Why is Gibbs pushing Natalie and I into hiding?"

"Paloma Reynosa's father was one of the most powerful drug cartel leaders in the world," Fornell pointed out. "Shouldn't be messing with that."

"Who was her father?" Natalie asked.

"And you said 'was' that mean he's dead?" Tony added.

Fornell let his lips pull into a little smile. "Pedro Hernandez was her father and yes—he's dead. Mexican authorities believe he was murdered by a rival cartel."

Tony's brow furrowed. "Wait a minute… they don't know who killed him?"

"Haven't got a clue. Literally. No evidence what so ever."

"So if they have no evidence… how do they know it was a rival cartel that killed him?"

Fornell shrugged. "Not really sure. Guess no one really cares. I mean… a dead drug dealer? Doubt the authorities wept for him."

Natalie looked at Tony, briefly. "Do you have a contact in Mexico that I could call?"

"Sure. He works for the Justice Department down there," Fornell replied, pulling out his pad and writing something down. "Nice guy. Bet he would be willing to help."

"Your spidey senses tingling, Nat?" Tony asked with a grin.

Ducky looked up from his work puzzled. "Spidey? Is this some new slang term you young people are using that I am not aware of?"

Natalie threw Tony a look. "No, Ducky. It's from Spiderman. Tony's just being a wise ass."

The medical examiner silently mouthed "oh" and went back to work. It was incredibly chilly out and he wanted to finish to get out of the raw air. The cold had done one good thing, though, it had preserved the body and there was very little smell and decomposition. Picking up his tools when he was done he stood and asked if Natalie could help him with the gurney. As the pair trudged off, Fornell looked at Tony. "I did some more digging on Hernandez," the FBI agent stated.

Tony put his gear away. "And?"

"Pedro Hernandez was the drug dealer that shot and killed Shannon and Kelly Gibbs protection detail… resulting in a car accident that claimed their lives," Fornell said, concerned.

"Do you think Gibbs had something to do with his death?" Tony asked, bluntly.

"Jethro was a different guy back then, Tony."

"Yeah. People change. Your point?"

"Is there the slightest chance that Reynosa is going after the team because Gibbs murdered her father?"

Tony slung his bag over his shoulder and watched as Natalie and Ducky returned with the gurney. "Always that chance, Fornell. Do I think he did it? No. There may not be a lot of things that Gibbs shares with me about his life… but I highly doubt Shannon would have wanted him to become a killer over her. And from what I can tell… Gibbs loved her like no other… he wouldn't want to have disappointed her."

What was going on? Tim McGee wondered when he came too, his head pounding, a sterile smell in his nostrils.

"Tim?" Palmer's voice was almost off in the distance, but Tim could see him standing right there. "Tim? Can you hear me?"

Something was in his mouth preventing him from answering. Tim raised his head slightly to see that he was hooked up to a ventilator. Jimmy explained, "You suffered a punctured lung in the car accident. Doctors had to repair it with surgery. Don't worry. You should be able to come off the vent now that you're awake. I'll go find your doctor."

Tim felt his eyes getting heavy as Jimmy left the room. When he opened them again there was an African American doctor standing over him. "Welcome back, Speical Agent McGee," the doctor said with a smile, flashing a small light in Tim's eyes. "Let's look at taking that tube out of your mouth."

In a few seconds the tube was sliding out of his throat and Tim was coughing. Someone handed him a glass of water and he eagerly sipped it. "T-Tony?"

"Mild concussion and bruised right leg," Jimmy answered. "He's fine. Back at work."

"B-brakes…gave out…"

"Yes, they were… they were actually cut, Tim."

Tim's green eyes went wide. He recalled Tony struggling to get the car under control… to stop. And then it went crashing over the guardrail and into the tree and everything went blank after that. "D-do you… know… who?"

Jimmy frowned and glanced at the doctor. "Maybe you should rest for now, Tim."

"Hey… look who's awake!" Tony's voice cheered as he stepped into the hospital room. "Looking good, Probie. Don't you agree, Nat? Pale looks fabulous on our geek."

"Anyone looks better with that tube out of their mouth," Natalie said, smiling at Tim. She took his hand and gave it a squeeze. "Nice to see you up, Tim."

Seeing that his partners were safe, Tim felt his muscles relax. He felt a hand push his hair back, heard Natalie's voice telling him to go back to sleep and get some rest. As he drifted off he felt relatively certain that his team was going to be fine… that he was going to be fine… it was just going to be a long road to recovery for him.

"Good morning. I brought you coffee and your favorite pastry," Natalie said, entering the bullpen, smiling.

"Thanks," Tony mumbled, not turning to greet her, his eyes staring at the plasma.

Natalie frowned and slipped out of her jacket, took her hat off and shook out her hair. She popped the lid on his coffee and went to put it underneath his nose. "I got you hazelnut," she cooed, grinning. "You should be cheery… you got to sleep in your own bed last night."

Tony licked his lips and looked down at her, his pulse racing seeing her wearing a soft pink sweater that hugged her curves. "I didn't go home. Gibbs and I went over your profile… word for word… he left about forty minutes ago to get a refill."

"You went over my profile?" Natalie asked. "Why… why didn't you ask me to stay?"

"It was written in your words…"

"All the more reason I could have helped last night…"

Tony's eyes softened on her. "Nat… Gibbs just thought it was a good idea to get a fresh pair of eyes… you know a new perspective on what you'd said and what we know about Reynosa. It has nothing to do with your abilities…"

Natalie waved him off and went towards her desk. "Yes, it does. They're not good enough for him," she whispered, suddenly not hungry or even wanting her morning coffee. Had she not thought outside the box enough on this one? She had tried to take what Gibbs had been teaching her just a week ago and applied it to this profile but apparently she had missed the mark.

With a bit of a sigh, Tony sat on the edge of her desk, his thigh brushing against her. "Natalie," he said, softly. "Gibbs thought your profile was brilliant… spot on. You dug up things that he hadn't even considered. Listen… for him to tell Fornell that you're one of the best profilers out there… he doesn't offer up compliments easily." He grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips for a quick kiss. "You are not being replaced."

"I'm not?" she inquired, looking for assurance.

"No. You are not," he affirmed.

She glanced at the bag of pastries and her untouched coffee. Reaching for her, she set her jaw, and said, "Okay. Tell me what you found."

He smiled at her, gave her hand an affectionate squeeze and went to grab the clicker. "Well… our Ms. Reynosa has been a very bad girl," Tony stated, standing in front of the plasma screen. Natalie came to stand next to him, sipping her coffee. "You were right that her childhood was… difficult. Father was a drug dealer, mother died when she was a teenager… married at the age of eighteen and lost her husband at the age of twenty-four. Took over for him."

Gibbs arrived then with his coffee. "She's been running the show since."

"My research says that her father was murdered," Natalie replied. She saw the tentative glance that Tony and Gibbs shared, and asked, "Is there something I missed?"

"We think we know why Paloma is coming after us," Tony said, eyeing Gibbs. "She thinks Gibbs killed her father."

"That's impossible. I went back through all the team's cases dealing with drugs and Mexico and her father is never mentioned," Natalie stated.

Tony looked towards Gibbs for a moment. "Her father was responsible for Shannon and Kelly Gibbs' deaths. Paloma's coming after us to get her revenge."

Natalie shifted, uneasily on the balls of her feet. "Did you… did you kill him?" she asked their boss, timidly.

Gibbs leaned forward, planted a soft kiss on her forehead, and promised, "No. But we need to find out who did." He turned to go, yelling at the two agents behind him. "DiNozzo… put the pastry down and get to work!"

"You get a kiss and I get yelled at," Tony quipped, putting his Danish down.

"If Greene wasn't always looking over the cubicle wall at us… I'd give you one right now," Natalie teased him.

Tony tossed her a slight glare. "Don't tease me like that, Callahan. You left last night before I could corner you in the elevator…"

Natalie smiled at him sweetly, and while wearing that pink top, it made him slightly weak in the knees. "Aw, well, I guess I can make it worth your while tonight. That is if Gibbs doesn't keep you here instead of letting you go home."

"Yeah. If I didn't know any better… I'd say he knows about us."

"I thought you said we had a good few solid weeks?"

He frowned, a little. "There is a slight chance I was wrong about that."

She playfully rolled her eyes at him and then went to her desk. "Well, unless you want to get fired… we better get to work on figuring out who killed Pedro Hernandez."

Vance had just returned from a meeting when Gibbs strode into his office. "Update on Reynosa?"

Gibbs nodded. "Tony traced her back to Mexico. Hired a private plane and landed early this morning. Seems she's gone back to… reevaluate her plan. FBI is going to keep an eye on her for us. Hopefully we'll know the next time she enters the country."

"Where are DiNozzo and Callahan now?" Vance inquired, holding a file folder out towards Gibbs.

"Sent them home. They've been working hard the last few days, Leon," the team leader answered, honestly. "They need a break."

Vance straightened his shoulders. "Call them back. I have a job for them."

Gibbs opened the file and peered at it, concerned, curious. "You want them to escort a witness home?" He looked at the Director, sternly. "Tony was just in an accident almost two weeks ago… Natalie's still a probie…"

The Director gave him a little smirk, "They're both highly skilled, highly trained agents… and a U.S Marshall is going to be flying with them."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"I know you're on edge since Reynosa almost murdered DiNozzo and McGee. But I can't keep my agents locked up here forever."

Gibbs glared and slapped the folder shut. "Fine. I'll give them the call." He left the office in a huff, slamming the door shut. He would call him but judging how the agents had been looking at one another when they left that evening he highly doubted they were going to be happy to get the call that they were back on duty.

After hours of torture watching Natalie in that top, Tony watched her walk through the bar… hips swaying, completely unaware of the effect she had on every red-blooded man in that room. He cursed now that they had picked this bar… away from the usual stomping grounds of their co-workers… because he just wanted to take her back to his apartment…

Natalie slid onto the empty stool next to him and placed her hands on his thighs. She leaned forward and kissed him. "Sorry I'm late. Have you been waiting long?"

Depends. Are you asking me if I've been waiting long for you to come to the bar or waiting long to have sex with you? Tony thought, sliding his hands up, around her waist. He dipped his head towards hers and captured her lips between his own. Her mouth opened to his, allowing his tongue access and he began to explore, tasting her, fire spreading through his body as he longed to touch her. He pulled away from the ravishing kiss, letting his eyes hungrily drink her in. "You're worth the wait," he whispered.

"So… are you going to at least buy me a drink before you take me home?" she asked, with a teasing smile.

Tony felt blood rushing to all the wrong places when in public… his hand ran up her thigh, he felt her shiver underneath his touch. "Do you just want a drink… not dinner? I'd suggest we eat too because we'll need a lot of energy for what I want to do with you."

Natalie leaned into him, softly brushing her lips across his. "Hmmmm… so are we going back to my place… or yours?"

He laughed, huskily, and grabbed her waist, wanting to devour her mouth with a kiss when his cell rang. "Damn it," Tony grumbled, pulling it out of his pocket and noticing that it was from Gibbs. He held the phone up so she could see before he flipped it opened and answered. The conversation was brief and when he hung up with Gibbs, he looked, solemnly at Natalie. "Better go home and pack. We're going to Paris."