A/N: I'm a bit nervous about this chapter but hopefully i was able to convey what i wanted to say. Hopefully you like it.

Chapter 8

Late into the next morning, Tim was sitting in the director's office. He was given the day off but he wanted to do the debriefing as soon as possible. Kelly protested but Tim promised he would go straight home, after a quick check up for the bite with Ducky; she was adamant on that, and take the day off.

His musing was interrupted by the office door opening and the Director entering the room.

"Agent McGee," Vance greeted, "it's good to see you in person again. How are you feeling?"

"Tired but good," Tim answered, "it's good to be back home again."

"I'm glad to hear that. Everyone on the team is also doing well. I talked with the hospital this morning to be updated on Valkyrie and other than a concussion and cracked ribs, she's doing very well. Miraculously nothing broken. She's expected to make a full recovery."

"I'm so relieved to hear that. I couldn't help but worry about her."

"Well your actions may have very well saved her life. She will be out of action for a while. Which means so will Alpha Team until I can find a temporary replacement, which I'm very reluctant to do since I rather not have to do since it'll be a long vetting process and I don't want to take any risk speeding the process up for someone temporary."

At least we get a vacation of sorts," Tim joked.

"Yeah, enjoy it while you can. SECNAV and SECDEF are eager to get you back out. And the CIA seem to be getting antsy after this civil unrest, though they deny any involvement with anything about it."

"Could they have been working with the government? They did have us extract someone connected to them."

"Honestly, knowing the CIA, they could be supporting either side. Hell, they could be supporting both sides and not have told each other in the agency. Who knows? Kort seemed involved so that may have been intentional. Either way they got their man. They picked him up this morning so he's out of our hair.

As for Alpha Team, like I said, the teams out of action for the time being until something can be figured out. So yes, a vacation of sorts except you're still a field agent, so you're still working. I'm giving you today off and tomorrow if you need it."

"I'll see how I'm feeling. I told Kelly I would have Ducky take a look at me before I go home and see what he recommends."

"Good idea. Follow his instructions. You are dismissed, Agent McGee."

XxX

"Tim, hey, your back," Jimmy Palmer greeted as Tim entered autopsy, "how was your trip?"

Palmer was sitting next to a male body on an autopsy table with a clipboard and pen on hand. The body looked to have already been worked on and was sewn back up.

"Hey, Jimmy," Tim replied, "not bad. Well except for some car trouble along the way but luckily it was quickly taken care of."

"At least you made it back in one piece. I hate having to be stranded far away from home."

"Yeah. Tell me about it," Tim replied, rubbing the back of his head.

"So what brings you down here?" Jimmy asked.

"I was actually looking for Ducky, to make sure I'm still in one piece."

"Huh?"

Tim motioned to where the bandage covered his neck.

"Oh, right," Jimmy said, realizing what Tim meant, "the dog bite. Almost took a piece off you. I get it now."

"Yeah."

"Well Dr. Mallard had to step out for a bit but he should be back soon if want to wait."

"Yeah, I will. I was hoping to get a quick nap in the meantime but it looks like someone beat me to it," Tim said, referring to the body.

"Oh, yeah. Lance Corporal Scuro. He got it rough."

"What happened?"

"Stabbed, six times. Four in the back and two in the front torso. Died when his lungs collapsed from a stab in the front."

"Snuck up on?"

"Apparently a fight. Gibbs got a suspect who admitted to stabbing the Lance Corporal but his gut was telling him there's more to it. So he had us take another look and so far I think Gibbs is on to something.

"How so?"

"Well the suspect and the Lance Corporal are the same height so if he stabbed him while they were standing or if he was on the ground, the knife wounds would most likely show a downward stroke.

These wounds show that the blade came from below."

"Suspect could have stabbed upwards."

"Perhaps but Abby is pretty sure the stabbing was done by a shorter person, just from the angle. Besides, the suspect didn't have any cuts on his fingers from the knife slipping as he plunged it in."

"So a third person is involved. Any suspects for that?"

"Last I heard, they were looking at the Corporal's girlfriend. She's a small woman and was having trouble with the boyfriend."

"You think the first guy is covering up for her?"

"That is what your team is hoping to find out, my boy!"

Palmer and Tim looked back to see Ducky had joined.

"Welcome back Timothy," he greeted, "I hope your trip went well. What can we help you with today?"

"Well, I made it back," Tim chuckled, "so I'd say it went well. I was wondering if you could give my dog bite a quick look before I went home."

"Well certainly. I'd be happy to. Take a seat while I put on some gloves. I hope you will go straight home after this and get some sleep. You look downright exhausted ."

"Oh, right. Of course," Tim said as he rubbed his eyes, "that's the plan."

"Oh, speaking of girlfriend," Palmer chimed in, "at our next bar night, I am going to try to bring my new girlfriend to introduce you all to her."

"Oh, that's great," Tim replied, as Ducky peeled off the bandage from his bite wound, "I guess I should tell you both about my uh, new girlfriend. Well, not new. We've been together for a while now actually. But if it's okay I would rather we tell you together, and when I'm not so tired. There's some explanation required."

"Whenever you are comfortable, lad " Ducky stated, "We understand, as long as you are happy."

"I am, Ducky."

XxX

After getting a good review of his injury, Tim volunteered to bring the file with the findings of the autopsy and forensics to Gibbs. Ducky protested but finally relented when Tim promised he would go straight home afterwards.

"How many people have you made that promise to," Ducky had quipped.

After not finding anyone in the bullpen, another agent told him the team was in interrogation. So he made his way there.

"Hey," Tim called out to a passing tech in the hallways outside interrogation, "have you seen Agent Gibbs?"

"Oh, Agent McGee, yeah, he's currently in interrogation with a suspect," the tech said, pointing to a door.

"Okay, thanks."

"But you got here just in time," the tech said as he beckoned Tim towards him and led him to the door opposite of where Gibbs was, "Gibbs wanted one of his agents to interrogate the other suspect again right now."

"Well, no wait. I'm not–" Tim started to protest but the tech had opened the door and let him in, "I–"

"Are we done yet?" said a voice from within the room.

Tim looked at a young man sitting cuffed to the table, looking at him with a frustrated look, as the tech closed the door behind him.

"I already admitted to it," the man continued, "Why am I still here? Don't I just need to sign the paper and be done?"

Tim took a deep breath, glanced at the two-way mirror and took a seat at the chair opposite of the suspect.

Tim remembered reading the name Luis Solis in the paperwork in the file as a suspect, so he assumed this was him.

"Luis," Tim said, testing his assumption. When the man didn't seem confused by it, he figured he was correct, "We know you are hiding things from us."

"What do you mean? I'm not hiding anything. I told you everything."

"Luis, I was just brought into this and I can tell right away this don't add up."

"You think I'm lying? I killed Lawrence. I did it."

"I didn't say you were lying, but you are hiding something."

"What proof do you have I am?"

"We have Carla Nemeth in the other room."

What? Why," Luis exclaimed.

Tim could see he was now more alert. Apparently the victim's girlfriend was a good trigger for use.

"She has nothing to do with this," Luis continued.

"Why do you say that?"

"She wasn't there at the time. This was just between me and Lawrence."

Tim studied Luis's appearance and took it in. He had signs of bruises on his neck that were almost healed up and his fingers were clear of any cuts. He then looked at Luis's face and tried to make it look as if he was thinking about what to say next.

"So she wasn't there," Tim said, "you stabbed the Lance Corporal 7 times."

"Yes, I did it. I killed him."

"Did you stab him in the back before or after he choked you?"

"A-after. I stabbed him in the chest and gut to get him off me then I got his back."

"Downward stab or upright for his back?"

"What?"

"Did you hold the knife upside down," Tim asked as he did a downward stab motion with his hand, "or was it upright."

"I-it… It was upside down. I stabbed downward on his back."

"What kind of knife?"

"A kitchen knife. A chef knife."

Tim nodded as he licked his lips. He let the words hang in the air.

"You're lying," Tim said after a moment.

"No, I'm not!"

"Lewis, I already talked with Carla. She told me she did it. Admitted to killing him with a chef's knife."

"No, no, no, she's lying. She's just trying to protect me. She didn't kill him, I did!"

"The forensic show that the stabbing was done by a shorter person. She had cuts on her fingers from one's grip slipping when plunging a knife with no guard into something."

"No."

"She told us about the fight you and Lawrence had and everything that led up to the stabbing.

"No!"

"He wasn't dead until he was stabbed in the lung, from the front. That final stab was from the front, not the back."

"NO! She's lying. She's innocent. She's just trying to protect me because she's my best friend and feels guilty about what happened. She thinks it's her fault but she didn't kill him. I did!"

Tim went silent again and studied Luis who was looking more desperate. He looked close to tears and as if he wanted to tear his own hair out.

"Luis, I didn't come in here for a confession," Tim stated, "We know what happened. Carla's story is more believable than yours. We have her confession. She's trying to protect you though, by making it seem like you had nothing to do with it but she won't tell us more.

I came in here to give you one last chance to tell us the full story."

Luis shook his head frantically.

"I'm going to be completely honest with you here Luis," Tim continued, "when I leave this room and I don't have the truth, there is not going to be another chance.

Carla is going to be charged with murder one which is an automatic life sentence. On top of fleeing and obstruction of an investigation, prosecutors are going to have an easy time arguing intent. Jury's going to easily find guilty and the judge is not going to give her any leniency at sentencing. Murdering a Marine? She doesn't have a chance."

Luis let out a sharp breath but remained silent. He was no longer looking at Tim and instead was focused on the table.

"As for you," Tim continued, "you currently have obstruction of justice. That's five years in federal prison and a steep fine. But we could easily tack on conspiracy to murder. Also a life sentence. Won't be hard. You both confronted Lance Corporal Scuro, you tried to stab him first, you're already admitted to trying to kill him. When you failed, Carla picked up the knife and did it. She fled, you tried to cover it up. Case closed."

Luis shook his head again.

"Things could have been different. Maybe Carla could get some leniency from the judge or the DA," Tim continued, "maybe even attempt some kind of self-defense angle. Instead because you are both trying to look out for the other, she's going to prison for the rest of her life, a villain to the public eye for murdering a Marine in cold blood."

Luis didn't react this time but instead was breathing heavily.

Tim let out a soft sigh and stood up to leave.

"Wait!" Luis exclaimed, "Wait. Okay, okay. I'll– I'll talk."

Tim stood still for a moment then sat back down on his chair.

"He…" Luis started, "He hit her. Lawrence was always abusive. Verbally and mentally. I don't know why she stayed with him. I kept trying to convince her to leave but she kept trying to fix things. She kept saying she had things under control, whatever that meant.

But that day he was really mad. His cousin was just killed by some feds during a drug raid in the mountains. His brother was arrested there too, I think. I don't know the details, just that cops raided the houses they were at in the mountains.

But he was really upset about that and they got into a big fight and he hit her. When she told me, I knew I had to get her out of there. I swear, that's the only reason I went up to Virginia. He was supposed to be at work at the time but apparently he didn't go to work.

So I confronted him when I saw him and he got mad when Carla said she was leaving. We got into a fight and he grabbed a knife at one point but I was able to get it out of his hand. He then got the better of me and he started to choke me. I was about to black out when Carla stabbed him. He tried to fight back and he did grab her but she stabbed him in the chest and he fell and just…

Carla was having a panic attack, so I led her to my car, I grabbed her bags and we took off and told her that I was gonna take the blame. She didn't want me to take the fall but I told her it's better this way. She's the victim, she shouldn't have to go to prison.

He was gonna kill us. Lawrence is unstable as it is but the way he was acting now, I had no doubts about it. She saved our lives. She's not a murderer."

When he was done, Luis looked back down to the table, tears now falling down his face.

When he didn't speak after a few moments, Tim nodded his head then stood up and left the room.

When he closed the door behind him, the door of the opposite observation room opened and Gibbs, Ziva and Tony joined him in the hallway.

Ziva was looking at him impressed, while Gibbs has his usual stone face. Tony at first had an unhappy look on his face but upon seeing Tim, quickly changed it to nonchalant.

"Wanna explain how you ended up in there," Gibbs asked.

"I was looking for you to pass on Ducky's paperwork and the tech thought I was there to do the interrogation," Tim explained, "I was going to leave but Luis really wanted to talk."

"I saw the whole thing from the beginning Tim," Ziva said, "you did such a fantastic job. We could not get him to confess for a day now."

"How did you know the girlfriend confessed," Tony asked, "were you watching our interrogation first?"

"No, I was sent straight into Luis's room first. I made up the part of her confessing. I just knew that you had someone in interrogation and that forensics found that the stabbing was done by a shorter person. I just stayed vague to cover up what I didn't know and luckily Luis filled in the blanks the way we wanted."

"Good job," Gibbs said with a smirk.

"Thanks boss. Now if you don't mind, I should head home to catch up on my rest. I was supposed to go home after seeing Ducky."

"Better to do that now then."

"Do you need a ride home?" Ziva asked, "I don't mind taking you."

"I'll be okay, thank you," Tim told her, "I drove here without any problems."

"Then at least allow me to escort you to your car. For my peace of mind."

"Sure thing, Ziva."

From there the two separated from Gibbs and Tony, with Gibbs telling Ziva not to take long. Tim and Ziva had light conversation the whole way to the parking garage.

"You have gotten so much better at interrogation, Tim," Ziva said, "I am very proud."

"Thank you. Um actually….: Tim looked around to make sure there was nobody nearby to overhear them, "when I was recruited to be a part of… well you know, I took a lot of extra classes and training to get my skills up and ready. One of the workshops I took was for interrogation techniques. That one has been valuable to say the least."

"You are a good learner."

"Yeah but I'm still not as good as any of you on the team. You're all naturals at it."

"Do not count yourself short Timothy. No one is an expert on day one. Being a natural just means you are ahead of others in the beginning. Everybody has to learn and practice to reach the top."

"Yeah, I suppose so."

"You sure you would not rather I gave you a ride home?" Ziva asked again as the two reached Tim's car.

"I'm good Ziva, thank you," Tim replied, "as long as I go straight home, I should be fine, which I will definitely do."

"Just like how you were supposed to go straight home after seeing Ducky?"

"Um…yes, just like then," Tim said bashfully.

"You are lucky Kelly did not catch you, but do not think I will let you get away with it so easily."

"Of course not, never."

Ziva smirked then reached up and lightly smacked Tim's cheek before rubbing it with her thumb.

The two agents looked at each other with warm smiles, neither of them moving.

Ziva then stepped forward and firmly embraced the taller agent in a hug, which Tim, though a bit confused, hugged back just as firmly.

"I'm glad you made it back okay," Ziva said, her face nuzzled against Tim's chest.

"Oh," Tim replied, knowing what she meant, "you knew?"

"Kelly told me. She was very worried about you. She told me what happened when it was just her and I when I went to visit her at your apartment. I was able to ease some of her worries but I was worried too."

Ziva finally released her hug and took a small step back to look up at Tim.

"Admittedly when I first saw you in interrogation," she continued, "I was tempted to run in there and hug you then."

"I um–" Tim started, not knowing what to say, "I'm glad to be back."

"Try not to scare us like that again."

"I'll do my best."

Ziva gave him a big smile. She then suddenly stood on her toes and planted a kiss on Tim's cheek.

Tim touched the spot where she kissed and gave her a big smile of his own.