Hey readers - Here we are with the next new chapter : )

Yay! Not only do I finally get to write these characters in a scenario that's not about Ari Haswari trying to kill them all, but it also happens to be one of my very top favourite episodes of NCIS ever! I don't know what it is about this one, but I really just love it. So without further ado, let's just jump straight on into it : D

Thank you so much to everyone that has reviewed, favourited, and followed this story. The support you guys have shown it has been brilliant, and I really appreciate it, so please keep it up. Please also remember that NCIS does not belong to me.

I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it : )

Mind Games

Mind Games - Part 1

Six weeks had past since the downfall of Ari Haswari. Six wonderful, glorious and above all else, peaceful weeks. May had given way to June which had quickly bled into July - bringing with it both beautiful weather, and even more cases for the NCIS team to solve. And solve them they did. It was almost alarming how easily the whole team had managed to get back into the swing of things, but that was exactly what they had done, and everything was pretty much back to normal. Kate spent her days bantering with Tony - when she wasn't yelling at him for snooping through her stuff - they would tease McGee together, and after work she'd hang out with Abby. Hell, even Gibbs was in a good mood. The silver haired agent even smiled at his team members on a semi-regular basis. It was as though Ari's death had lifted a tremendous crushing weight off of everyone, and all of them were much better off for it. It shouldn't really have come as a surprise to any of them though.

After all, the whole world was a better place without that bastard in it.

Kate was in such a good mood in fact, that as she entered the squad room on a particularly sunny morning, the dark haired woman was so wrapped up in her own cheerful thoughts that as she exited the elevator, she couldn't stop herself from accidentally colliding with someone that was walking in the opposite direction, about to board.

"Ooh!" Kate grunted in surprise, her expression immediately becoming politely apologetic, "Oh my word! I'm so sorry about that!"

A warm chuckle was the response that greeted her ears.

"It's fine" a kind, and more importantly, familiar voice replied in fond amusement, "Think nothing of it".

Glancing at the other person's face to ensure that she wasn't mistaken or just imagining things, Kate's expression quickly morphed into one of utter surprise, before an enormous grin lit up her whole face.

"Paula!" Kate exclaimed happily, surprised but pleased to see the blonde agent again. The two female agents weren't particularly close, more acquaintances than actual friends really, but they were friendly enough towards each other whenever their paths crossed, so it was nice for Kate to see her again.

"Hey Kate" Paula smiled at her warmly.

"Hi" Kate grinned back at the other woman, deciding to stop and chat for a few minutes since she was a little early to work anyway, and so she had the time, "It's good to see you again, but what are you doing here Paula? I thought you had that one weekend with Tony a few weeks ago before you were heading back out to sea?"

Sensing that this was going to turn into a somewhat lengthy conversation, Paula mutely gestured with her hand, prompting Kate to step aside so that the two women were no longer blocking the elevator doors. Several other agents immediately stepped inside, with some of them grumbling in Kate and Paula's direction as they went. They both just rolled their eyes before resuming their friendly chat.

"Deployment ended" the blonde haired woman explained to Kate with a slight shrug, "So I'm back at Headquarters for now. A whole week of T.A.D before I have a meeting with the new director to discuss whether I'm being redeployed to another ship, or if I'll be reassigned state-side".

"Any preference?" Kate was curious to know.

"Well, I did enjoy being an Agent Afloat, but I can't deny that I'm also really enjoying being here in D.C." Paula admitted, a fond smile growing on her face as she reflected upon the city-life she'd been living for the past few days, "I mean, being out at sea was fun and all, but I never got any alone time for like... months".

Kate couldn't help but wince in sympathy upon hearing those words from the other woman's mouth. As someone that placed a great deal of importance upon privacy herself, Kate could scarcely even imagine how difficult that must have been for Paula to endure.

"Well... maybe the new director will take pity on you" Kate suggested optimistically.

"Maybe" Paula said slowly as she nodded, before a curious frown passed across her face, "Hey, what's she like anyway, this Jenny Shepard? I haven't met her yet".

Kate was silent as she carefully thought about it for a few moments, before giving her honest opinion.

"She strikes me as the type of boss that wants to be firm but fair with her staff" Kate eventually replied, weighing up everything that she'd seen of the red haired director so far, "From what I've seen of her so far - which admittedly isn't very much - she's still trying to find her feet. I'd imagine that she's probably very conscious of the fact that she's a woman in a very male dominant political circle".

"So basically, she's out to prove herself" Paula deduced knowingly.

"I think so" Kate nodded her head in confirmation.

Paula paused for a couple of moments, trying to absorb all that Kate had told her in regards to the agency's new director. It certainly all matched up with what Paula herself had heard about the red haired lady, but since she had never met the woman in person, Paula didn't have any real impressions about her new boss just yet. The blonde haired agent opened her mouth to ask another question, but unfortunately she was cut off before any words had the opportunity to pass her lips. For coming from Paula's purse was a sharp bleeping noise. It was obviously an alarm of some sort. Kate watched on curiously as Paula's eyes widened in surprise at the sound, and the blonde haired woman quickly began rooting through her purse. After a few moments of searching, Paula soon withdrew her pager, and deactivated the alarm.

"Oh shoot" the blonde haired agent gently cursed as she checked the time, "I'm running late. I'm supposed to be meeting with the team that I've been assigned too for the next few days".

"Not joining up with us, huh?" Kate wondered curiously.

"Fortunately, no" Paula sighed, though out of relief or disappointment, the dark haired agent couldn't tell.

Kate briefly wondered what Paula meant by the response that she had given, but quickly caught on to the other woman's line of thinking. Whether it be her somewhat sordid history with Tony, or just Gibbs' general distain for agents that were not a member of his own team, Kate could understand why Paula wouldn't exactly be over the moon about the notion of being placed with them.

"Listen, I've gotta run, but I'd really like it if the two of us could get together for a proper catch-up" Paula suggested with an air of hope.

Kate had to admit that she was a little taken aback by the suggestion.

After all, she and Paula weren't really friends, not because of any animosity between the two of them, but simply because they hadn't been in each others' company long enough to become more than acquaintances. They were little more than colleagues at this point in their relationship. Still, Kate couldn't deny that she liked the other woman, and it would be nice to get to know her better. Plus if her recent experience with Ari Haswari had taught Kate anything, it was that life was for living. Perhaps becoming friends with Paula for real could be apart of that. Either way, Kate found herself smiling and nodding, and decided not to question it.

"Sure, why not?" Kate smiled warmly at the suggestion, and Paula beamed at her, "How about we get together for lunch some time later this week? I'll even bring Abby with me, so the three of us can have a proper girly catch-up".

"Abby Scuito?" Paula asked in the hopes of getting clarification, "NCIS' top forensic scientist?"

Kate couldn't help but smile at the description of her best friend. Clearly Abby's reputation proceeded her.

"That's the one" Kate nodded her head in confirmation.

"That would be great" Paula smiled at the suggestion, much to Kate's relief, "I haven't met her in person yet either, just over a video call, so you can introduce us properly".

"Sounds good" Kate smiled warmly.

"Cool. I'll text you with a place and time later, so you can check if it's good for you" Paula promised since she already had Kate's cellphone number for professional purposes. Just then, the elevator arrived at their floor again, and a flurry of people got out. Paula stepped inside, before she turned and smiled at Kate. The doors slid shut, and she was gone.

Grinning to herself, and very pleased at how good her day was already turning out to be, Kate continued on her way to the bullpen, turned her computer on, before taking her seat behind her desk. Noticing that she was the first member of the team to arrive that particular morning, Kate decided to use the quiet time to her advantage and crack on with some paperwork. She was just about to start, when a soft ping from her computer alerted her to an email notification. Kate decided to read what it said first, before starting anything else.

To the dark haired woman's surprise, the email had come from the new director herself. Gibbs was the main recipient, but herself, Tony and McGee had all been included as well. According to the email, there was a prisoner at Sussex State Prison that Director Shepard wanted Gibbs to interview as a matter of priority, though there was little explanation given beyond that. There was however a copy of an old case file attached to the email. Allowing her curiosity to get the better of her, Kate opened the attachment, and set it so that the information would appear on the plasma screen close to Gibbs' desk. She got up and walked over to the screen whilst the information was still loading up.

Before Kate's very eyes, various police reports appeared on the monitor, and then at last, a photograph of the prisoner that this was all about in the first place. Kate couldn't help it when her jaw fell wide open in sheer and unadulterated astonishment.

It couldn't be. It just couldn't be... and yet somehow...

It was.

And just like that, Kate's good mood evaporated instantly.

For the mugshot of the man... no, that was a disservice to men everywhere, the animal... on the screen wasn't just the mugshot of any old prisoner. Oh no, this wasn't just your average deadbeat whose name was forgotten the moment he was sent to prison. This was a man of infamy. Kate had seen his face on the news more times than she'd had hot dinners. Even a hardened federal agent such as herself couldn't help but wretch in disgust at the atrocities that this lowlife had committed. The atrocities that were inspiration to serial killers everywhere.

His name... Kyle Boone.

Kate forced herself to look at the mugshot of the monster she had legitimately had nightmares about back in her youth. Some of the things he had done were so vile, so depraved, that Kate couldn't help but feel sick to her stomach just thinking about it. The psychological profiler in her knew that the man would be fascinating to talk to, yet the woman in her simply recoiled in horror just thinking about such a meeting. Even from a photograph, Kyle Boone's eyes chilled Kate down to the bone and made her stomach lurch uncomfortably. The man truly was a monster in human skin.

She had no idea as to why Director Shepard wanted Gibbs to go and talk to such a man. She reasoned that it must be very important though. Only one thing was for sure however.

Gibbs was not going to like this.

Kate was taken so off-guard by the situation that had just presented itself to her, that she didn't even hear the sound of footsteps approaching, nor did she sense the presence behind her. So when a hand suddenly clapped down on her shoulder without any warning whatsoever, poor Kate almost jumped out of her skin.

"HI KATE!" a voice bellowed in her ear.

"WAAAH!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.

Whipping around with lightning fast reflexes, and being the highly trained federal agent that she was, Kate was immediately ready to defend herself. Catching the arm of the person that had startled her, Kate held it in a vice-grip, twisted it around so that it was pinned behind the person's back, before she finally slammed them down on to Gibbs desk, eliciting a small grunt of pain from her 'attacker'.

It was only once she had the person restrained did Kate really get a good look at them. It was a man... one she knew very well in fact...

"Tony?!" the dark haired woman cried incredulously.

Tony, still with his face pinned against their boss' desk, was only able to let out a rather unmanly, high-pitched squeal of pain. He struggled slightly against her grip, but Kate did not let go. In fact, as her shock gave way to anger, if anything her grip on her male counterpart tightened in frustration.

"Tony - what the hell are you doing?" Kate angrily demanded to know.

When Tony only let out another soft grunt of pain, Kate scowled darkly, but loosened her grip ever-so-slightly. She still kept him pinned down though. Kate wasn't going to let him off the hook until he had explained himself.

"I was... only... saying hello!" Tony grunted, grimacing in pain as Kate pushed his arm further up his back.

"By screaming it in my ear?!" Kate exclaimed incredulously.

"I... I was just... having a little... joke with you!" Tony managed to gasp out.

Fuming, Kate pushed his arm up his back just a little further, taking pleasure in the yelp of pain Tony released. Then she let him go, and took a step backwards. Tony hastily righted himself and scrambled away from his irritated teammate.

Scowling, and shaking her head at his juvenile behaviour, it took Kate a moment to realise that something in her surroundings was amiss. Then it clicked.

The entire office was silent.

Quite literally everyone on the office floor that was in early that day was watching the spectacle that Kate and Tony had been putting on. Some of them looked highly amused, particularly the female members of staff that Tony had unsuccessfully tried to hit on, whilst others were gaping at her in shock. Instantly Kate was mortified, and an impressive blush appeared across her face.

"Alright everyone!" she called, her voice carrying like a trumpet through the quiet, "Show's over!"

Keeping her head ducked low and her gaze firmly averted, an embarrassed Kate quickly strode across the bullpen to her desk, and took her seat behind it. Tony gingerly did the same, after fixing some things that he had knocked over on Gibbs' desk. Naturally, he was complaining all the while.

"Geeze! If I'd known I was gonna need full body-gear to get away with it, I wouldn't have tried to surprise you!" he whined unhappily.

"You'll know for next time" Kate said dryly, glaring at him across the bullpen.

"Seriously though, why so jumpy?" he asked, his tone shifting from whiny and become one filled with concern instead, "Everything okay?"

Kate let out a low sigh, before gesturing over to the plasma screen, which was still displaying the information that she'd brought up earlier. Tony looked over in the direction that his friend had indicated, and his eyes came to rest upon the screen. He'd been so preoccupied before with sneaking up on Kate that he hadn't paid any attention to what it was she was actually looking at. He honed in on the mugshot for a moment... and then his jaw dropped wide open in absolute astonishment.

"No way" he breathed, in as much of a stunned state as Kate had been in previously, "It can't be..."

"Oh it is" Kate refuted, and Tony gaped at her in incredulous disbelief, "Check your email".

Tony scrambled to do as she advised. After reading through the exact same email that Kate had received, his mouth fell open once more.

"Kyle Boone?!" he exclaimed incredulously, before blowing out a deep breath, "Blimey. I saw what he did on the news, was disturbed for weeks! No wonder you were so jumpy!"

Kate opened her mouth to reply, feeling a little defensive about that remark, but sadly she never got the chance to say anything. Because before she could utter so much as a single syllable, a new voice broke into the conversation, effectively cutting her off.

"I don't know..." a familiar voice said teasingly from behind Kate, "I think slamming you face first into a desk is a little over-the-top for just being jumpy".

Kate and Tony both glanced around to see that McGee had arrived. The junior agent was standing just beyond the bullpen, behind the barrier on Kate's side, smiling at them both. He had in his hands a small cardboard carton, holding three cups of coffee. He held them carefully as he approached the other two members of the team.

"I wasn't jumpy!" Kate immediately protested, before narrowing her eyes at McGee, "Did you see all that? How long have you been standing there McGee?"

Her tone of voice had the younger agent quickly explaining himself.

"Uh, long enough to say "Not long Ma'am," Agent Todd" he said playfully, before he continued in a more serious tone, "But seriously, no I didn't see it. Half the building's already talking about it".

"Oh god" Kate groaned, running a hand down her face in embarrassment. Whilst she was never shy about letting her feelings by known, she also didn't want to get a reputation around the office for being totally insane.

Opposite her, Tony didn't look much happier about the situation.

"I mean, I let her do that to me of course!" he said in a boisterous tone, trying desperately to cling on to some of his dignity.

"Oh please!" Kate scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"I did! It's called chivalry Kate" Tony flashed that infuriating grin of his at her, making Kate scowl at him again, clearly unimpressed.

"It's called a load of B.S. Tony, that's what it's called" Kate hold him scathingly, and Tony's grin immediately fell, "We both know that I just kicked your ass, and what's more, so does everyone else in the office too".

An indignant Tony opened his mouth to argue, but he was cut over by McGee, who looked far too amused by this whole situation.

"I wouldn't underestimate Kate, Tony" the junior agent warned him in a teasing tone, "Remember the time I made that mistake and she kicked me in the balls? Trust me, it's a lesson I'll never forget".

"Glad to hear it" Kate smirked in self-satisfaction.

Tony on the other hand just groaned, realising that they both had a point, and that numerous people had all seen him get his ass handed to him. Hanging his head, he let out a low whine.

McGee shook his head at the display, smiling in amusement, before he stepped into the bullpen and handed Kate her coffee. She flashed him a grateful smile as the junior agent then proceeded over to Tony's desk and handed off a cup to the moping agent as well. It was only as he started walking towards his own desk did McGee notice the mugshot on the plasma screen, and he turned to the other two federal agents curiously.

"Who's that?" he asked them.

Both Kate and Tony eyed him, slightly incredulously, surprised that he didn't already know the monstrous creature by his face alone.

"Kyle Boone?" Kate told him, searching his face for any sign of recognition but finding none, "Name doesn't ring any bells?"

"No" McGee frowned and shook his head, confused as to why the two more senior agents were looking at him as though he'd just dribbled on his shirt, "Why, should it?"

"He's an infamous serial killer, Probie" Tony explained to the younger man in a slightly patronising tone, "He terrorized the District in the nineties. Come on!"

"Twenty two women went missing and only five bodies were found" Kate informed him, unable to suppress a shudder, "The things he did to them... well, let's just say that they don't bare thinking about".

McGee's eyes got very big as he tried to absorb this information.

"Guy only made one mistake" Tony continued, and now his tone was a little smug.

"He killed a Petty Officer" Kate nodded in agreement, pleased to know that at least the bastard's rein of terror had been put to an end long ago.

It took a moment for McGee to catch on to what they were saying. When he did, his eyes went even wider in shock.

"Gibbs caught him?!" McGee exclaimed in amazement.

"He's scheduled for a Government-sanctioned dirt nap on Saturday" Tony explained, having no qualms about talking so casually about the death of a man that had inflicted misery on the scale that Kyle Boone had, "Apparently he wants to talk to Gibbs before they flip the switch".

"Why?" McGee asked him, but it was Kate who replied to his question.

"According to the email that we all have in our inbox from Director Shepard, Boone claims that he's going to tell Gibbs where the missing bodies are" Kate explained, before her expression became very bitter and her tone became one of disgust, "Sounds like a load of crap to me".

"What?" McGee blinked, surprised to hear Kate say something like that when it was very unusual for her to do so, "You don't think that's what he wants?"

Kate couldn't help but throw him a rather sardonic look.

"Let's just say that the profiler in me doubts it very much" was her simple reply.

"Maybe he's changed" McGee said optimistically, and although Kate often found the young man's faith in humanity endearing, in this case she couldn't help but think it was a little naive, "Maybe he wants to give all those people he hurt some closure before he goes".

Kate let out a low sigh, whilst Tony just scoffed loudly and shook his head.

"Trust me Probie" Tony addressed the junior agent in a tone that practically oozed with condescension, "Monsters like Kyle Boone have no interest at all in giving other people closure".

McGee opened his mouth to protest that rather bold statement, but Kate interrupted him before he had the chance to.

"Rare though it may be, I actually agree with Tony in this case" Kate remarked, and both Tony and McGee gaped at her in utter amazement, "What? Look, Kyle Boone has had ten years to grow a conscience and tell the authorities where those poor women are. He could have given all their families the answers they've needed long ago, and he chose not to. Someone that cruel... well, I really don't think someone like that is gonna be big on redemption".

Both of the men just shrugged their shoulders at her in response, unable to really argue with Kate on that point. Before any of them had the chance to discuss the topic any further however, a new voice entered the conversation, and it was far from happy.

"What the hell is that doing on my screen?" Gibbs thundered as he stormed into the bullpen, glaring at the mugshot on the plasma screen with such a burning loathing, it was a miracle the whole thing didn't burst into flames.

He immediately rounded on his team furiously, and Kate couldn't help but feel a cold shiver ran through her at the dark look in Gibbs' eyes. Clearly Kyle Boone had had more of an effect on her boss than the average criminal did. The profiler in her couldn't help but wonder exactly what type of past there was between those two.

"Uh..." McGee stammered weakly when he became the focus of Gibbs' steely glare, "I didn't put it there, Boss".

Apparently, that wasn't the answer that Gibbs was looking for.

"Who did, McGee?" Gibbs demanded to know, intimidating poor McGee by getting all up in his personal space.

The junior agent clearly didn't know what to say, and threw a pleading look in the direction of Tony and Kate. For once, they decided to take pity on him. Kate opened her mouth to inform Gibbs as to what was going on, but unfortunately for her, Tony beat her to it.

"Probie, let me handle this. Boss..." Tony trailed off, waiting for a moment until he was sure that he had Gibbs' attention, "She did it".

He pointed at Kate in a rather childish manner, and Kate couldn't help but scowl at him for throwing her under the bus like that. It was probably his revenge for her kicking his ass earlier, or something equally as juvenile.

"Thanks for that, Tony" she said in a deadpan tone.

"Anytime" Tony smirked back at her.

"Kate?!" Gibbs growled at her, clearly in no mood for their usual office banter today. After all, Kyle Boone was not a joking matter. He was a dangerously disturbed lunatic, and Gibbs wanted to know just what the hell was going on.

"We all got the same email this morning Gibbs" Kate explained, not wasting any time beating about the bush. Not when Gibbs looked so wound up just seeing the monster's face, "Apparently it's been requested that you interview Kyle Boone in prison. Claims he's gonna spill on where the missing bodies are, but only to you".

She threw him a significant look, and even without any words being spoken, she found that her boss was as incredulous at the notion as she was.

"You want us to provide you with backup, Boss?" Tony asked carefully, clearly in an attempt to test the waters.

"You're not providing anyone with anything, DiNozzo" Gibbs ground out through his teeth, clenching his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned a stark white, "I'm not interviewing anyone".

"You might want to tell the Governor of Virginia that then" Kate suggested to him, trying not to gulp when her boss turned his icy gaze back to her, "Because according to the email, MTAC has him standing by waiting for your call".

"Says who?" Gibbs angrily demanded to know.

Kate knew that the man wasn't trying to be childish or flippant with that response. He genuinely wanted to know who these orders had come from, probably so he could go rip them a new one.

"Director Shepard" was all Kate had to say.

At the mere mention of the woman, Gibbs' face darkened a couple more shades, his expression becoming so ugly that Kate had to force herself not to flinch. The silver haired federal agent glared up towards the upper level of the office, his gaze practically strong enough to tear a hole through the Director's door. Again, Kate found herself suppressing a shiver. She wouldn't want to be Jenny Shepard by the time that Gibbs got through with her, make no mistake.

Without so much as another word to his team, Gibbs stormed back out of the bullpen. Kate, Tony and McGee all watched anxiously as the man stomped up all the stairs, before disappearing into MTAC after using the iris scanner. The three of them all let out a collective sigh before looking back at each other anxiously.

"Well that went well" Tony remarked sarcastically.

"Yeah" McGee scoffed, taking his seat at his own desk before he began checking through the rest of his emails. He was glad to find that there weren't any more summoning their team anywhere. He wasn't sure his nerves could take it otherwise.

Tony also turned his attention to more mundane tasks, such as filling out some paperwork that was needed to officially close some of their older cases.

Likewise, Kate was also quick to busy herself with the administrative side of her job. She didn't want to not be working when Gibbs eventually returned after all. She had the distinct feeling that he wasn't going to be in the best of moods, and Kate didn't want to risk having him taking his frustrations out of her.

As the trio of federal agents settled down to begin their work for the day, all three of them felt the same ominous feeling creeping over them. It was settling in their stomachs and distracting their minds, regardless of how hard they each tried to focus. It most certainly was not a pleasant feeling at all.

A feeling that today would mark the end of their wonderful, short-lived peace...

And that's another chapter done : )

Yay! We finally get to see one of my favourite minor characters, Paula! I don't really think she would have been a suitable candidate to join the main team on a permanent basis, but she's definitely an interesting background character if nothing else. Still, I decided against having her join the main team for the majority of this episode, mostly because since Kate is there, I don't see what purpose she would serve until later on. She's definitely going to make another reappearance later on in this episode though. Plus, I really want to use this story as a means of exploring the relationships that Kate possibly might have been able to build with other characters in the show, had she not been killed off so early on in its run. I'm not sure if I'm actually going to include that lunch scene between them though. I want to, but I'm not sure if it'll really fit in with the episode very well, so if I don't include it, it definitely happened 'off-screen' so to speak. Let me know what you guys think I should do. Also, just to give you guys a little bit of scope on how long I've been trying to get back into this story, I actually wrote that whole scene between Kate and Paula back during the height of the lockdown, so this has been a long time coming : )

Oh, and on a small side note, I know that in canon this episode happened only one month after the events of 'Kill Ari', but I wanted to put a little bit more distance between the characters and those events, which is why I upped it to six weeks.

And I think that's just about everything from me for this time. Thank you so much for reading this chapter and my story in general, and I really hope you're enjoying it. Please also consider leaving a review as I'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback on how I'm doing so far, and any ideas and suggestions you might have for future episodes are always welcome : )

Until the next time, keep on reading : )