Warnings: Spoilers for "Borderland"

A/N: Chapter starts out just after the trucking case, but then jumps a head a few months to pick up the second part of the Reynosa arc. Hope you like it :)

Tony arrived back at his apartment to find Natalie laying on his bed wearing nothing but one of his old, ratty tee shirts from college and flipping through a magazine that she had found in his nightstand. He was startled at how comfortable he was seeing her there, in his space, wearing his clothes. In the past this would have completely freaked him out.

Natalie wasn't aware that he was watching her. She was engrossed in the sports magazine she was reading, her long brown hair sliding over her shoulder with each turn of her head as she looked at the pages. She looked up then, noticed him standing there, and smiled. "Hey… where did you go? I woke up and you were gone."

"Gibbs' house," he answered, flopping down onto the bed with her, he laid out on his stomach. His fingers brushed through her hair. "Needed to talk to him."

"About what?" Natalie inquired, gently, looking up at him.

"You and me," Tony said.

Her eyes went wide for a second. "You… you told Gibbs about us?"

He laughed, softly. Gently he pressed his lips to hers in a sweet kiss. "Yes. He was going to find out eventually… if he didn't already know."

Natalie shifted on the bed, uneasily. They weren't breaking NCIS rules, but they were breaking Gibbs' rules. In the short period of time that she had been with the team she knew how important those rules were to the former marine. She bit down on her lower lip, anxiously. "How much trouble are we in?"

Tony laughed again. "None," he assured her. Running his fingers over her back, he leaned in and kissed her behind her ear. "You look incredibly sexy in my old tee shirt, you know. And to think… I almost got rid of all of them a few years ago."

"We're not in trouble? Gibbs wasn't mad?" Natalie questioned, ignoring his attempts to get her in the mood.

"Nope. He said as long as it doesn't effect our work… then there isn't a problem," Tony replied. "Of course, we still need to keep it quiet so Vance doesn't transfer one of us."

She sat up and brushed her hair aside. "So the only one that knows… is Gibbs? You didn't go see Abby or Ducky or Palmer did you?"

He shook his head. "The only one that knows for sure is Gibbs. Let the others speculate. Vance isn't going to listen to rumors."

Natalie ran her tongue over her lips. "Why?"

Tony was confused. "Why what?"

"Why is Gibbs okay with this?"

"He doesn't want me to be like him."

Natalie was about to say something when Tony rose up, grasped her into his arms and kissed her. She forgot about her concerns as she leaned into his embrace, deepening their already hungry kiss. He was an incredible kisser and knew just when to pull that weapon out to get her to change topics.

Tony gently lowered them back against the pillows, his hand running up the inside of her thigh, underneath his tee shirt and lovingly caressing her soft skin. "I really don't want to talk anymore, Nat," he said, huskily. And not another word was said between the two as they spent the rest of the morning doing much more pleasurable things.

McGee had been gone for a long time—months—but even he knew that something had changed between Tony and Natalie when he saw them for the first time. He had talked about it with Abby, they had speculated of course over take-out dinners while she made sure he healed. She had yet to prove it of course, the pair was being awfully sneaky and if Gibbs knew about it, the forensic scientist claimed he wasn't saying a word.

Tony looked almost younger, tanner and leaner than McGee recalled since the last time he saw him. They had been busy working cases and while Stan Burley had filled in for a while he was needed back on his agent afloat stint and thus, Tony hadn't come to see McGee in person. He'd called and texted him, made sure he was okay, but there had not be any face-to-face time. McGee knew for a fact that Tony would go through a vigorous workout to get pumped for a date… if he was seeing someone more seriously, well… it was no surprise really that he'd gotten fit.

Natalie looked just as pretty and sweet as always, but her hair was down and wavy—something she never used to do before. He noticed that when she gave a little flick of her long hair to get it off of her shoulders, Tony's eyes went slightly dark with desire while the pair stood shoulder to shoulder in front of Gibbs' desk giving an update on a closed case. He'd missed a lot in his months at home healing, apparently. Like his partners getting together.

"Hey! Look who's back!" Tony greeted with a broad grin as McGee stepped into the bullpen that afternoon. "We were beginning to really miss you around here, Probie."

"Don't listen to him, Tim," Natalie said, engulfing McGee into a tight hug. He caught a whiff of Tony's cologne on her. "He missed you the most!"

McGee pulled away from her, let a small smile grace his features. "Feels good to be back. Hopefully, Tony didn't mess with my desk too much."

Tony looked at him, innocently. "Who? Me?"

Natalie hit him playfully on the arm. "Don't worry, Tim. I made sure he left your desk alone."

Gibbs smiled to himself. Hearing their banter brought a sense of security to him. There had been no sightings of Paloma Reynosa in the last few months—not that he believed for a moment that any of that was over—but he felt better prepared to protect his team. While he was thinking about this, his desk phone rang. Their happy reunion was going to have to wait because they had a case. "Grab your gear! Marine's body was found the trunk of a car in a junkyard."

"Aw, I was just going to start a new random chat, boss," Tony said with a grin, knowing that he had been driving Natalie crazy with it all morning.

"Annoying other people is going to have to wait, DiNozzo," Gibbs ribbed him, good-naturedly. "Let's go! Time's a wasting!"

McGee followed behind Natalie and Tony. "What's random chat?"

Natalie rolled her eyes. "Tony bet IT Kevin that he could last longer chatting with random people on the Internet. So far, he's lasted no more than ten seconds."

Tony glared at her. "Fifteen," he argued.

"Hey!" Gibbs shouted at them. "Forget about the dumb chat thing and get in the elevator!"

"Sorry, boss," Tony grumbled, leading the way into cab. "I'm focused from here on out."

Gibbs titled his head to the side and gave a little shake. He wasn't sure about that. Tony, as brilliant as he was as an agent, got distracted easily at times. Classic A.D.D if anyone asked him for his opinion… and depending on what transpired the night before… or the morning of… with Natalie, that could add to Tony's distraction. This morning Gibbs was certain he'd smelled Tony's cologne on Natalie.

Tony had stayed true to his word—he wasn't letting this relationship effect his work. He had always been protective Natalie, ever since Somalia, it had just been amplified a little since they had gotten together. The pair was proving that rule 12 had been a dumb idea after all…

At the garage the team exited the elevator. Gibbs headed towards a Charger, watched happily as his three agents climbed into the van. Life was back to normal. Which should have been a warning sign right there that things were about to go pear shaped and fast.

"Bet I could last more than fifteen seconds with this guy behind me," Tony pointed out as he snapped photographs of the crime scene.

Ducky looked up from his inspection of the body, puzzled, and silently questioned Natalie for an explanation. "He made a bet," she supplied, simply, with a little smile. It was all the medical examiner needed for an explanation and went back to work.

Natalie did the same, dusting the trunk of the rusted out car for prints. Bodies in trunks of cars were not something that was foreign to her, sadly. She had seen her fair share up in Boston and she suspected that Tony had seen his fair share too… he was using the Random Chat excuse to cover up the disgust he was obviously feeling. She looked over at the seven-year-old boy that had been present when the body had been found. "Hell of a seven year old birthday gift," she muttered.

Tony let his camera hang around his neck and he pushed his hat back a little, watching Gibbs interact with the kid. Boss is good with kids, he thought. "Doesn't seem too traumatized to me, Natalie."

"Hopefully he didn't see too much," McGee pointed out. "Got a name on our victim… Corporal Ray Collins. We'll have to pull his service record back at NCIS."

"Odd place to find a corporal," Natalie said, looking around the junkyard. "Don't suppose those cameras…"

"Don't work. Gibbs already asked," McGee said, "Grandfather says they're for show."

Natalie frowned. Well, there goes that…

Ducky shifted again and asked Palmer to help him get the body out of the trunk.

Tony stepped back and mused, "So, crime of passion? Jealous lover killed him and then dumped his body here in a panic?" As the body was pulled from the car it was revealed that the marine's feet had been cut off. Tony stepped back even further. "Or… something a bit more sinister, perhaps?"

No one would say it, but every single one of them was thinking it—serial killer.

While the team was off checking on Collins unit and conducting interviews, Gibbs checked in with Abby. She wasn't pleased to learn that the Caf-Pow machine was only offering minis, and Gibbs could tell that the denial of her favorite caffeinated beverage was not what was getting her all relied up. He was pretty sure it had to do with the phone call she had just received when he arrived in the lab.

Abby chewed on her lower lip, finally offering up what was bothering her, after Gibbs stood there, patiently waiting for her to explain. "Vance wants to see me. I told Director Vance's secretary that it had to wait though… I think I have a breakthrough in the case."

Gibbs smiled, slightly. He knew that he could count on Abby to find them a lead. "Lay it on me, Abs."

"Okay, well, I found DNA underneath our victim's fingernails. It could be used for a match once we have suspect," Abby said, "But that isn't the most important thing. Collins had a GPS tracker in his watch."

"What does that mean?" Gibbs asked, honestly as he didn't have a clue.

Abby smiled. "It means I can trace all of Corporal Collins steps. We should be able to track where he's been the last forty-eight hours. Who knows maybe one of those places will have a witness that will be helpful."

Gibbs chuckled. "DiNozzo will be thrilled. At least I won't have to hear anything about that silly bet with IT Kevin anymore." He kissed Abby's cheek, thanked her and turned to go, but she stopped him with her concerns about why Vance wanted to see her. "I wouldn't worry about it Abs."

She looked at him seriously. "Why not?"

He smiled and gave her another little kiss on the cheek before leaving. "Because I have your back. Always have, always will."

"How long are you going to be gone?" Natalie asked in the dim light of the halted elevator.

"Just two days," Tony replied. "Vance doesn't mind loaning Abby to the Mexican government but he doesn't want her traveling without an agent."

Natalie reached behind her and gripped the rail. She had no reason to be nervous about Tony going with Abby down to Mexico, after all they were being put up by the Mexican government and probably wouldn't be leaving those facilities. Still… something was tugging and nagging at her. "Senor Rivera did seem rather taken with Abby a couple of weeks ago."

Tony ran his tongue over his lips, remember the Mexican official getting a tour of the building. The team had been in the middle of a case then and he'd only been briefly introduced. He had heard from the gossip mill about Rivera's charm and smile. Which probably meant that he couldn't be trusted. "He wants her to be a guest lecturer on forensics in cold cases. Gibbs isn't going to be too happy."

She frowned. "We're so used to working down a man…"

He sighed. "Yeah I know."

"You'll… you'll be careful, right?"

"Yes. Very careful, beautiful."

Natalie bit down on her lower lip to stop the nervous tremble. This would be the first time that they had not been assigned a mission together. Even working with Werth months ago, Tony had been tailing the truck as her back-up. She trusted McGee… but Tony…

He sensed that she was anxious and Tony pulled her close to him, kissing her temple and whispering assuring words in her ear. He let her go and reached for the emergency switch to start the elevator up again. She had GPS coordinates to go check out with McGee and he had a flight to catch with Abby to Mexico. But before he stepped off the elevator, before the doors opened, Tony managed to sneak in one last kiss before they parted.

Alejandro Rivera watched from his office window as the black Suburan pulled up to the curb. A bubbly, complete clad in black Abigail Sciuto popped out, earning a harsh reprimand from her escort, Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo.

Paloma had set this plan up. Alejandro had gone to Washington on business and been to the NCIS building. He had met Abby and pretended to be smitten with her, given her no reason to turn down his request that she came speak at the symposium. The siblings had just not been sure which agent Director Vance was going to send with her as her escort. Paloma had been hoping it would be DiNozzo. The one that Special Agent Gibbs regarded as a son, the one that Gibbs had gone to hell and back in Somalia to save…

He reached into his pocket once the forensic scientist and her escort had disappeared from his sight. Pulling out his cell phone he called his sister. "They are here. Ms. Sciuto and Agent DiNozzo just arrived. I am getting ready to go greet them."

"Everything else is all set, hermano?" Paloma asked. He could hear the clink of ice in a glass.

"Yes. I will give Ms. Sciuto our father's case file. From what I have learned she will venture to the crime scene," Rivera replied.

"Are you sure that Agent DiNozzo won't be suspicious?" Paloma inquired.

"No. He won't," Rivera replied. "He wants to find out who killed our father just as much as we want him to find out it was his boss."

He hung the phone up and proceeded downstairs to greet Ms. Sciuto and Agent DiNozzo, and to set the entire thing in motion. If things went according to plan… DiNozzo would be dead by this time next week.