A/N: Sorry if anything is incorrect in this story. I am most certainly not an expert. Thanks, all.

Chapter One: Hidden

"I think, if we're honest, we all know she's a killer. Maybe she didn't kill her husband, but I looked in her eyes. You know what they said?"

"What, Tony?"

"Well, I'll tell ya, probie. They said, I'm a killer."

"Are you still talking about that stupid bet you made?" Kate asked.

Both men looked up. "It's not stupid, Kate! It's, in fact, a very serious bet."

"You bet twenty dollars, Tony," Kate remembered.

"Yes, and that would be twenty dollars lost, wouldn't it?"

"What was the bet anyway?" Kate wondered.

McGee answered, "I told Tony that Private Benjamin Oliver's best friend killed him because he was having an affair with his wife and he wanted to get Private Oliver out of the way so he could marry her."

"And I told young probie here that that was why Private Oliver's wife would kill him, because she wanted to marry his best friend," Tony told them all matter-of-factly.

Kate furrowed her eyebrows as she said, "Tony, you always think it was the wife."

"And, statistically speaking, Tony, about 45% of murders are done by a friend. Only about 9% are done by a spouse," McGee answered.

Tony rolled his eyes. After McGee shot him annoyed look, he said, "Sorry, probie. Why don't you tell me again and I'll pretend to care."

"Think whatever you want, Tony, but statistics don't lie," McGee said.

"Yeah, whatever. What are we even still doing here, anyway? It's, like, three in the morning," Tony noticed.

"Yeah, but Gibbs did say to sit here until he got back," Kate told them through a yawn.

Tony groaned, "Ugh! I just wanna go home and go to bed."

"That's great, DiNozzo. Why don't you go home, get some sleep. The rest of us will find Private Oliver's killer while you get your beauty sleep."

Tony closed his eyes in Gibbs' presence. "Sorry, boss. Did not know you were behind me."

"Yeah, figured. All of you, go home and pack," Gibbs announced. As Tony's mouth began to open, Gibbs told him, "Before you ask, DiNozzo, we're going to Chesapeake. Private had some business down there and got into a nasty fight with a group of men, according to his wife."

"Chesapeake? That's on the other side of the state," Tony mentioned.

"Well, DiNozzo, if there's a problem, you can stay behind," Gibbs offered.

"No, no, I'm good," Tony told him.

"Alright then. Go, now. All of you. Car's leaving at 0700." They all scurried out of their desks and grabbed their stuff. They nearly ran to the elevator at their boss' order.

"Alright, so it's three-ish now. It'll take 'bout half an hour to get home. Ten to pack. Five to shower. And so I can sleep at...four fifteen?" Tony added in his head, after they got in the elevator.

"Three forty five," McGee corrected. "You added an hour for your drive home instead of half an hour."

"Oh. Thanks, probie," Tony smiled slightly as McGee nodded.

Three forty five. Oh, that was a little sad. One, because he apparently couldn't add in his head anymore. And, two, because he'd only be able to get three hours and fifteen minutes of sleep at the most. Sad, alright. And Tony loved sleep. Well, that's life, I suppose, Tony thought as he remembered life really didn't care about each individual's sleep. Aw well. What're you gonna do? So, Tony drove home, packed, showered, and went to bed at three forty five. But, for some reason, he didn't sleep a wink.