Millie looked up from her notes. "Are we sure this is right? Brittany is going to come in and demand answers."

"Really? So will Gibbs," McGee commented.

Tony leaned forward. "Look, I think this is right. It makes so much sense."

Brittany and Gibbs walked in. "What have we got?" Brittany asked. Gibbs glared at her for a moment.

"I think I found a pattern," Tony said.

Ziva glared at him. "You mean we did."

Millie laid out 20 headshots. McGee gave her a deck of cards from his desk. "Remember how each scene had a card?" She started matching cards to pictures. "At first we looked at the cards and tried to see if there was a similarity to the card and the person in some way, before other leads took priority."

"We started to notice that they were in ascending order," McGee explained. "Girls had the red suits, and the guys had the black suits."

"But then you see this," Ziva stood up and pointed to the man that had a Jack of Clubs. "It is not in order. And here," She points to the woman with the Queen of Hearts. "And now Branson with the Queen of Spades." She set the card on the corner of the headshot.

"That's what threw us off when we were originally looking at the significance of the cards."

"The first two were the ones that we thought were more important to CSS," Brittany said. "Do you think that's what the cards mean?"

"Maybe," Tony said. "The girls have red cards, and the guys have black cards," he repeated. "It looks like it is carefully planned."

"But if the face cards are the more important kills, why did Branson have a face card?" Millie thought out loud.

"We thought before that he either worked with or was CSS," Brittany said. "I guess we can now say he is not our killer."

"He still could be," Tony said. "Maybe one of his partners killed him the same way as the others to hide it."

Gibbs looked around the team for a minute. "Why are you just standing there? Find out." Tony, Ziva and McGee ran back to their desks.

"Come on, Millie. Show me what else you've got," Brittany whispered. They sat at the desks at the end. Brittany glanced down at her watch. She noticed it was getting late. "We might be pulling another all-nighter on this one, Millie," she whispered.

"Anything to catch that guy I guess." She looked over at her partner. "I'll be right back. I need to use the restroom." She nodded.

"Take your time." Millie got up and left to find the restroom. Gibbs stood up.

"I'm getting coffee." He grabbed his jacket and left the squad room. Brittany looked at the team.

"There is a coffee shop open this late?"

"Yep," McGee replied without looking up.

"This is normal," Tony added. Brittany nodded. She focused her attention back down at one of the files they had brought.

"So, Brittany, what is it like?"

She looked at McGee confused. "What is what like?"

"Working for the CIA. Sarah barely talked about it. Another agent, Kort, has not really been so forthcoming about it either." Tony and Ziva looked up.

"Probie, why would you bring that up?"

"It has been six months. She's not coming back. It is not like we are saying something incriminating about her," Ziva argued.

Brittany put down the folder. "It's fine guys. I bet she wouldn't mind." She shrugged. "The CIA is fine, I guess. I mean, nothing special or anything. Similar to here in a way."

"What did you do before this case?" Tony asked.

"Well, I was undercover for several years. Six months ago, I was pulled out after I was shot. After three months of physical therapy, I got a new partner fresh out of training."

"Millie?" Ziva asked.

Brittany nodded. "She's a good teammate but likes to do things strictly by the book. Doesn't always work out like training. So, I am trying to break her of the book." Ziva snickered at the comment. She could relate to her statement. "Two months later, we got this case."

"Did you ever meet Sarah Wallace?"

She shrugged again. "Once or twice. Not enough to really know the girl. We only saw each other in training or exercises. She seemed nice, pretty determined, but really nice." She looked over at the team. "Could you tell me about her? I mean since you guys seem to know her pretty well. I heard about her position here. No one has ever done that."

Tony stood up from his chair and sat on the corner of his desk. "I like that idea."

"I think we ought to. We do not need to sit around and mop."

"Mope, Ziva. The word is mope."

"Whatever. English is so complicated." She turned her chair toward Brittany. "Sarah always had this way to care for everyone. She was a good agent, and she was very creative."

"She was also talented when it came to music and writing," Tony added. "I remember the first time we found out her music talent. She was trying to hide that she was practicing for community theatre. So we went to the show without telling her just to see. We were impressed! She had a pretty big role too."

McGee added another story. "She dreamed of having a book published. She gave me sections to review and edit for her. She was almost done with it and my publisher was going to actually get it published."

Brittany sat up. "You're Thom E. Gemcity! I knew I recognized you. I have read all your books." She shook her head and relaxed in her seat. "Sorry. I don't normally do that."

McGee chuckled. "It's ok. I am used to it."

"She was probably one of the most driven individuals I met," Ziva added. "She reminded me of myself at her age. She did what she had to in order to get the job done. Whatever it took."

"She always took necessary risks. Everything she did was for a reason," Abby said as she walked in. "I heard what you guys were saying." She pulled up a chair next to McGee. "We all miss her. Even Gibbs, but he doesn't show it. He probably misses her the most. She was like a daughter to him." She leaned against McGee. "Sarah did not know her family. You probably know she was part of that group that trained children. So, she did not know her parents. Many times, after she joined our team, she would just stay with Gibbs. She told me one day Gibbs was the father she never had and dreamed she would know. Between that and work, he practically raised her through her teen years."

"Her boyfriend, Jordan, took the loss pretty hard too," Tony added. "He is still pretty torn up about it. You probably know him."

"Wow. I never knew she was that close to you all." Brittany sat back in her chair.

"When you work with someone day in and day out, you grow close. That is what happened to us," Ziva said.

"Some of us took longer than others," Tony said looking over at Ziva and McGee.

"Well, she seems like a nice person," Brittany said. No one noticed a stray tear rolling down her cheek.

"She was," Abby said.

Gibbs watched from the side. He knew the team missed Sarah. He did too and they noticed it. They didn't know how right they were. He looked over at Brittany while the team got back to work and noticed her wipe her eyes. He couldn't help but think of some of the things she had said. There was something familiar about her, but at that moment, he couldn't figure out what that was. She was too young for him to have dated her. He never worked a case with her either. He couldn't think of any other possible connection between them.

Author's Note: I appreciate your readership with these chapters! Thank you for reading!