WHEW! what a marathon this chapter was. Thank you all again for your patience as I finish up this story. There were many loose ends to tie up in this chapter and it may feel choppy as a result. There are many POV changes which are all marked with transition lines so pay attention and don't get lost! There is likely just the one chapter and an epilogue to come on this so we're in the home stretch!

Thank you again for reading and I hope you enjoy the update.

Abby growled in frustration as they hit another wall. "Why can't there be DNA, or spectral analysis or…or fingerprints or something for me to sink my teeth into? Science never fails me." She hung her head. "I feel like I'm letting Gibbs down."

"What about email?" Tim proposed hopefully.

"You don't think I've run Estes' emails backward and forward same as you, McGee? Besides the fact that a Tibetan monk sends more correspondence than this guy, everything I did find was squeaky clean, not to mention bo-ring. Not even a hint of an evil secret code word." She seemed tremendously disappointed.

Tim nodded. "What about Langstaff? Or any of the other marines in Estes' unit? Gibbs said he thought there might have been other accomplices, people Estes was working with on something much bigger." He was grasping for anything useful.

Abby's eyes lit up. "They could have used another email we don't know about, something unofficial that wasn't immediately obvious. The defense department logs and tracks all IP addresses and messages from active combat zones and barracks. We could try running a key word search or looking for any account that isn't easily traceable, but as Ziva says, 'It will be like looking for a needle in a needlestack'."

"Better than nothing," Tim arched a brow.

"Right you are, Tim. Right you are." Abby cracker her knuckles and flexed her silver laden fingers.

"Of course it will mean hacking the DOD's server logs," he said casually.

"I know." She grinned wickedly.

Tim smiled as she pushed him aside a little and promptly got back to work, unblinking as she refocused intently on the screen before her with new purpose.

Tim looked down at Abby's somnolent smile, knowing he would have to wake her eventually but unable to give up the seeming perfection of the moment to the chaos which would certainly ensue. The ache in his chest as he watched her sleep made him realize there wasn't much he wouldn't do to keep that blissfully peaceful look on her face.

They'd made it until about 4am, sifting through one email after another, hitting seemingly dead ends each time, but Tim's coffee maker was no substitute for the Caf-Pow machine, and Abby had slowly wound down like a clockwork toy as their leads dried up and names and numbers began to blur before their eyes. Insisting that she could push on through until morning even as her eyelids began to drift closed, she'd gratefully accepted the oversized MIT T-shirt he'd offered her and begun to strip out of her own clothing in the middle of the living room, seemingly without a thought for his presence.

Tim had offered her the bed but she wouldn't accept unless he agreed to join her, something he wasn't completely sure he trusted himself with even so many years after the termination of their romantic relationship. More to the point, it was the new and disturbing twinkle in Abby's eye he didn't trust. Eventually she'd curled up in a corner of the couch instead, long legs tucked beneath her. The t-shirt covered more than Tim secretly would have liked and less than he was really prepared to handle.

Tucking a blanket around Abby's shoulders, Tim took a seat on the opposite end of the couch and tried to put some sort of framework around the last 24 hours. The events at Gibbs' house were still a whirling blur of memory and emotion and despite Abby's reassurances and enthusiasm for the drastic change in relationship between two of their teammates, he still wasn't exactly ready to share in the celebration.

When he really thought it out, he realized Tony wasn't the majority of the problem for him. DiNozzo was DiNozzo and Tim had long ago accepted the fact that his sometime mentor, longtime friend, and all around pain in the ass SFA was pretty indiscriminate when it came to where he stuck his dick. Though, to give him just a little credit, Tony had been rather quiet about his sexual exploits for the last year or so. Tim had chalked it up to Tony being over forty and gaining a little bit of maturity-or, if Karma was on his side, a dry streak induced by erectile dysfunction. In fact, he couldn't remember when Tony had gone so long without bragging about at least a dozen conquests. Maybe when he was fucking Ziva that one summer, or when he was working the case with Jeanne, but something really had been different about him for the last year. Perhaps Abby was right and there had been something between Gibbs and Tony long before the events of the past week.

Whether he liked it or not, the real problem for Tim was Gibbs. No matter how he tried to work through it, around it, or under it, there was just no getting past the fact that the man he looked up to, the man whose approval he had sought since the moment he'd met him, the man he respected more than he respected his own father, had betrayed the very rules that the foundations of his life were built on. And if Gibbs had kept this part of himself hidden, could seemingly laugh in the face of all that he had taught Tim to respect and believe in, was every single thing he knew about Gibbs just a series of lies? The rational part of him knew that wasn't true but the betrayed son kept turning the situation over and over in his mind, refusing to let it go and move forward like he knew he should.

Glancing at the clock, Tim realized sleep wasn't likely to be an option for him. If he couldn't sleep, he might as well work even if it meant continuously slamming his head against the wall for a few more hours.

He went back over their notes on all of the victims in Estes' journal. Abby had been bothered by a random digit at the end of the detainee ID numbers which didn't seem to correspond to anything and didn't match the detention facility's ID system. They'd extracted all of the numbers, fed them into the computer and tried to come up with some sort of meaning, alphabetical or otherwise, failing miserably each time.

Tapping the keyboard, Tim brought up the list of victims one more time. After hours of staring at a screen, he had nearly memorized every name and detail and now they swam before his eyes. Whether it was the silence, the coffee, or some other mundane detail, a thought suddenly broke through the cloud of his brain like a lightning bolt.

After a few taps of his fingers, the names rearranged themselves in a somewhat familiar configuration. A moment later he had only those numbers which were not part of the ID on the display and this new order gave him an minutes later he was rousing Abby with a triumphant grin on his face.

"You change your mind about the bed?" she mumbled sleepily, stretching like a cat so that the t-shirt rode up higher on her thighs, giving Tim an incredibly distracting view of her skull and cross bones panties.

"Think I got something." He managed to pull his eyes back up to her face as she finally focused on him.

"What? And you didn't wake me?" She bolted off the couch and over to the computer, sleep a sudden and distant memory.

"I wanted to make sure. I mean, I'm still not sure, sure, but I'm pretty sure." Tim scooted in beside her.

"GPS coordinates?" She looked at the map he had brought up after feeding the newly ordered numbers into a GPS locator.

"The total number of extra digits is right to correspond to degrees, minutes, and seconds of latitude and longitude. I tried the ID's in every combination and plotted each one just to be sure." He pointed to a series of hundreds of markers scattered across a global grid. "A bunch landed smack in the middle of the ocean and others in areas that seemed too remote or distant from a target of any kind to have significance, but this one," Tim zoomed in on one location not far from DC, "was far more interesting. And it corresponds perfectly to the order of imprisonment for the detainees."

"How did we not think of this before?"

"Maybe we were just too close to it." Tim shrugged "Couldn't see what was right in front of us." As soon as the words were out of his mouth he realized that they had a much broader application and he didn't miss Abby's raised eyebrow.

"We should call Gibbs." Abby's fingers moved over the keyboard, refining Tim's work.

"We don't know what this means yet. Besides, it's 6am. Weren't you the one who said we should let them sleep?" He knew she was right and that he was only making excuses to put off the inevitable meeting with Gibbs and DiNozzo. He kept hoping that something would come along and settle his mind on the matter.

"Fine. But you can't avoid talking to him forever, Timmy." Her tone was not without sympathy. "If these are GPS coordinates, we need to isolate and find out as much as we can about this location and then find out whether there might be any possible link to Estes or anyone else involved. You start on that, I'll hit the shower first, but at 0700 we call Gibbs regardless, deal?"

"Deal," he agreed.

"You know we could speed this whole process up if we…" She grinned evilly and inclined her head in the direction of the shower, clearly preparing to strip out of his shirt.

"Somehow I don't think that will make things go faster, Abby. Besides, I know you're not serious." While she had always liked to tease him and he enjoyed the flirtatious banter, he knew that she was using it now as a distraction from the much weightier thoughts rolling around in his head. It was almost working but he refused to look up from what he was doing. A moment later he felt her fingertips beneath her chin.

"Things do change, Tim. If what's going on with Tony and Gibbs hasn't convinced you of that, I don't know what will."

Tim blinked at the image of her naked back and disappearing into his bedroom. It took a few moments for him to remember to breathe.

"This isn't good." Tim retrieved the zip drive from the side of his laptop and tucked it in his pocket, glancing down at his phone again.

"They'll call back, Tim. I'm sure Vance talked to them too." Abby stepped into the room, still dressed only in her underwear and tugging her own t-shirt over her head. When her eyes emerged, she found that McGee had turned away politely and she merely shook her head.

Finally, he cleared his throat awkwardly in the face of her recent nakedness. "Do you think I should call them again? It's not like Gibbs not to answer, and Tony…"

"Maybe they're in the middle of something." Abby grinned wickedly.

"Eww," Tim said automatically, slamming his eyes shut and refusing to let the image of that take hold. "You're not helping," he accused. "And seriously, eww."

"Well, the sooner you stop staring at me and get dressed, the sooner we can get to NCIS and find out what's going on. So get moving." She sat down and began tugging on her thigh highs and boots.

"I wasn't…you were…never mind," he grumbled. "Did Vance say why he wanted us in? Any hints at all?"

"Nope. He didn't seem surprised when I answered your phone though. I don't think we give him enough credit sometimes." She began fastening the long row of toggles up her calf.

"Great, one more thing I need to worry about. I just wish I had a chance to fill Gibbs in on everything before we got there. He doesn't like surprises."

"And he's definitely not going to like this one," Abby agreed.

Gibbs was distracted and he didn't particularly like the feeling. He knew he was too close to this case, too wrapped up in Estes' head, letting himself be played by a monomaniacal psychopath, and yet he knew he had to be the one to bring him down, would not rest until he was down.

Something about Vance's phone call was still making the back of his brain itch. He'd gotten the definite sense that that Leon was choosing his words guardedly, was being far too careful for his liking, even in their brief conversation. To this point Vance had done nothing but support a full court press when it came to Estes even if he had pulled them back after the events of the previous night. Even being benched, Gibbs had had the sense that Leon was truly attempting to act in all of their best interests while still aggressively pursuing the case. Something in his voice this morning though…

The thought was pushed to the back of his head with all of the others he just didn't have time for right now. He'd have his answers soon enough where Vance was concerned and hopefully Estes too if McGee's phone message was anything to go by.

Jethro half-heard Tony's conversation with McGee as their detail brought them to NCIS headquarters. His mind was like a maze, running every possible route of escape for Estes, every next move, until he came up against the inevitable wall of the unknown each time. He felt like a target, he felt out of control, and he was more than ready to get back into the driver's seat.

Tony's fingers brushing against his thigh brought Gibbs out of his head a little. The other man appeared to be concentrating on the city passing by them out the window. The touch seemed an accidental one, but he understood enough about Tony now to know that his focus was completely on this tiny connection between them, on the heat seeping through the fabric of his khakis, the slight twitch of muscle beneath his fingertips. Something about that touch brought calm to the center of the storm raging in his gut, to the center of his entire world.

"We're pulling up now." Tony ended his conversation with McGee as they entered the darkness of the parking garage.

"They've got something." Gibbs turned to him. It wasn't a question. "He call Vance first?" His voice was tight. He'd hated having Tim discover the changing nature of his and Tony's relationship the way he did, hated the look of deep betrayal on the younger man's face, but he'd hoped for better than this after Tim had some time to mull over their conversation.

"No way. Vance called them in same as us. Could be for the same thing he and Abby found but McGee thinks it's unlikely. Guess what they've got isn't the kind of thing that jumps right out. Said there was something in the journal? Something about ID numbers and GPS coordinates and dummy corporations? I'll let him explain it. They're right behind us and Ziva's on her way in too." Tony's fingers slipped a little higher against the side of Gibbs' thigh, pressed a little more firmly. "He sounded better. More McGeeish," Tony said reassuringly.

Jethro nodded. At least it was something.

Out the door before the car had barely come to a stop, Gibbs moved around the back of the vehicle with purpose, feeling another wave of reassurance when Tony fell in at his shoulder and matched his pace without missing a beat. A second car was coming in behind them and they waited at the elevators while McGee and Abby joined them. Gibbs motioned both of their details to stand down and gave Tony a look that stopped him in his tracks as well. The quick nod of understanding as DiNozzo masterfully pulled Abby away from Tim and toward the second elevator made Jethro grateful as he always was for the level of perception the younger man could exercise when necessary.

Gibbs didn't miss the somewhat envious glance Tim cast toward Tony and Abby as the doors of the elevator they had just entered slid smoothly closed and left them alone. Predictably, Jethro hit the stop button before they rose fully above the garage level. Suspended in this world between places, they stood together in seemingly interminable silence, Tim's eyes on the floor, Jethro's eyes on Tim, both waiting.

Jethro knew it was necessary for McGee to make the first move and he was willing to wait out his stubbornness whatever it took. He'd created this mess and done what he could to begin the cleanup process but it was going to take both of them to put it right again. Thankfully, he didn't have long to wait. Gibbs saw the rise in Tim's shoulders first, the twitch of his jaw. He was fighting something inside of himself and whichever side won would determine whether or not their relationship was mendable on any level. When deep green eyes finally rose up to meet his, Gibbs read every conflicting emotion immediately but kept his own gaze passive and patient. This was what he'd been waiting for, the inevitable cusp of decisiveness.

"I meant every word I said last night, Tim. That hasn't changed, including the fact that I owed you an apology. But what you got is all I have to give and the rest is up to you. You have a choice to make, right here, right now, and there isn't going to be a second chance. You're either on my team one hundred percent or you're not, there isn't an in between. I can't have you doubting me or DiNozzo for even a split second out there or people are going to get killed, do you understand me?" Jethro stepped closer. He wasn't menacing or threatening but he needed McGee to understand that he was deadly serious. "You either accept everything you know, everything I've told you and move on, or you just move on. I'll get Vance to give you the very best reassignment possible. What's it going to be?"

There was a moment in the silence when Jethro could see McGee teetering on the edge, a moment when every emotion, every image, memory, and misgiving was balanced perfectly with Tim's loyalty to him, his love for him, and he could tell by the change in the set of Tim's shoulders and the flare of resolution in his eyes the moment those scales tipped.

"I'm in." McGee said firmly before softening just a little and relaxing his stance. "You know I could never not be in, Boss."

"I know, Tim. Knew it the minute I picked you, and you've never let me down." Jethro set his hand on McGee's shoulder and squeezed, acknowledging the difficulty of the situation as well as his belief in their ability to move past it.

Too soon though, the moment was over and Gibbs stepped back, regarding Tim with steely eyes. "Now tell me what I need to know before I walk in that room with Vance, McGee."

Tony didn't know exactly what had happened during the 10 minutes McGee had spent alone with Gibbs in the elevator but as a keen observer of human behavior, he immediately knew two things: First, he and Jethro were forgiven, at least for the most part. Tim's eyes still looked a little unsettled but the hunch of his shoulders was gone and the slight nod he'd given Tony as he passed his desk had spoken familiar volumes. Second, whatever McGee had told Gibbs had given him something to sink his teeth into. He'd come off the elevator with purpose in his stride, the uncertainty Tony had been witness to back in his apartment having seemingly vanished. Whatever else happened, he counted both of these as strong victories.

"Get me everything you can on these in the next ten minutes. Satellite feed, topography, whatever else you find. If someone sneezes within a mile radius, I want to know about it." Gibbs tossed what looked like GPS coordinates on Tony's desk.

"On it, Boss." He held Jethro's eyes for half a second and felt gravity shift as he turned and went to work.

"I believe the director is waiting for us in the conference room." Ziva moved from behind her desk.

She'd already been in the bullpen when Tony had arrived and had jumped up at his entrance, demanding details. Admittedly, he felt a bit guilty over the fact that she had largely been left out of the loop after the events at Jethro's house the night before and he'd filled her in as best as he could, trying not to bristle as she interrupted with two questions each time he answered one. After five minutes he'd understood all too well why Mossad was renowned for its interrogation techniques. Tony had never been so relieved to hear the ding of the elevator in his life.

"He can wait ten more minutes," Gibbs barked. "Pull up everything on this corporation. I want owners, investors, anything else they have in their pockets." Ziva took the piece of paper Gibbs handed her like a dog that had been favored by a particularly juicy scrap. Her brows knit together and she opened her mouth, seemingly poised to ask a question, but Jethro had already picked up the phone and begun dialing. Instead, she did as asked, eyes narrowing as she sat down and focused on the screen before her.

Having lost track of time and still engrossed in his task, Tony suddenly felt a presence behind him and craned his neck to find Vance watching from above, chewing thoughtfully on his toothpick, a habit which Tony had noticed decreasing of late. He turned back to his computer and redoubled his efforts, trying to ignore the pinprick feeling of eyes at the back of his head.

"Agent Gibbs." A moment later Vance's voice came from a slightly closer location and Tony didn't have to look up to know that the director had descended the first flight of steps to the bullpen.

"Just following up on a lead, Director," Gibbs acknowledged without stopping what he was doing.

Tony tried to focus but it was impossible not to feel the tension that had suddenly fallen on the space around them.

"Agent Gibbs, I called you in because I have vital information to share with you and your team. I'm sorry, but time is of the essence." Vance's voice was calm but assertive.

"Does your vital information include Estes being either dead or in Federal custody, Leon?" Gibb's tone was just shy of entirely insubordinate.

"It does not." Vance replied stiffly.

Jethro stood behind his desk and went eye to eye with NCIS's Director. "Then I have vital information to share with you, Director, but you're going to need to give me ten more minutes."

The war of wills was a silent one but in the end it was Gibbs who inevitably triumphed. "Fine. Ten minutes, no more. I'll try to keep the Sec Nav entertained until then. Whatever you're working on better be damn good, Agent Gibbs."

Tony couldn't help but hear the odd curiosity-tinged resignation in Vance's voice but something else was passing between the two older men that he couldn't begin to fathom. Gibbs stayed standing as Vance's soft footfalls retreated back to the upper level.

"Well, you heard him," Gibbs glanced around at the 3 sets of eyes that were now glued to him, "ten minutes and we better have something damn good. Forward whatever you get to McGee so he can put it together with the work he and Abby have already done."

"Sec Nav's here? What do you think that's all about?" Tony leaned over and whispered to Tim.

"Beats me," Tim murmured nervously.

"You two solve this case yet?" Gibbs barked.

"No, Boss," they replied in tandem.

"Then get back to work." He resumed his seat and hammered at the keys of his computer.

Tony couldn't help the small grin that turned up the corners of his mouth as he refocused. They hadn't brought Estes down yet but maybe, just maybe, things were going to turn out alright after all.

"Leon, this guy isn't stupid. Look how far he's gotten, what he's gotten away with. This is a man who murdered at least six women that we know about in a secured detention facility and managed to make it look like suicide. You're telling me I have to ignore all of those deaths, but even if I was willing to do that, he still mutilated two marines, killed two civilians, and now you tell me he managed to skip town with half an arsenal. You really think he's gonna let us track him with a damn rental car Lo-jack?" Gibbs fumed in the privacy of Vance's office, not really caring that the Secretary of the Navy sat propped against the edge of the director's desk. "What the hell aren't you telling me, Leon, because I'm not about to walk into an ambush when my gut says Estes isn't where every other agency in the US thinks he is."

"He's telling you all that he can tell you, Agent Gibbs, and for that I truly am sorry. I've tied Director Vance's hands, but my own are tied even tighter. There are matters of national and international security at play here far greater than you can imagine." Jarvis' tone was cool, calm, and actually bordering on sympathetic.

"All due respect, Mr. Secretary, but you'd probably be surprised by exactly what I can imagine." Gibbs grunted.

"Without evidence to the contrary, Jethro, this is the only hope we've got. I've been given a 24 hour window, no more." He looked to Jarvis who remained silent.

"Well then let me bring in Agent McGee and give you some evidence to the contrary, Leon." Gibbs stood firm.

Vance again glanced at Jarvis who nodded almost imperceptibly. "I'm willing to entertain other scenarios but so help me, Gibbs, they better be based on more than just your gut." He walked over to the intercom on his desk. "Find Agent McGee and have him brought to my office please."

"You don't think all three of them are pacing outside that door right now?" Gibbs inclined his head toward the heavy steel door as it burst open and McGee half stumbled into the room as though he'd been pushed.

"You asked to see me, Director? Mr. Secretary," Tim acknowledged a little nervously, gaze darting around the room.

"Show 'em, McGee." Gibbs' voice was firm but conveyed his clear confidence in the younger agent's abilities.

Tim's mouth opened and shut reflexively but he gathered himself quickly. "If I may, Director?" He didn't wait for an answer as he plugged his laptop into the conference table console and installed the thumb drive which held the information he and Abby had initially gathered as well as the added intel the team had put together in the last frantic few moments. Managing to explain how they had stumbled on their theory as well as where it had led them-with only a few minor digressions and fumbles- Tim was happy to look up and see that everyone in the room still seemed to be following him.

"The coordinates are right in the center of an 800 acre plot of land near the West Virginia border. It's virtually surrounded by National Forest. If you wanted isolated, this is about as good as it gets." He brought up the satellite imagery Tony had downloaded. "There are several buildings on the property but they are all centrally located, somewhat like a compound. On the northern part of the property there are some old fire roads which look like they might be accessible, but otherwise there appears to be only one maintained driveway in and out. The buildings are set back off the main road by almost a quarter of a mile and we believe this is some pretty heavy duty fencing around the core perimeter." He referenced points on the satellite image.

"You think Estes was building himself a Mt. Carmel right here in Virginia?" Vance's fingers curled around the edge of his desk.

"Think maybe that was his plan," Gibbs nodded. "Don't think he counted on NCIS getting in the way, though. He made a miscalculation with Gilmore and Fuller and I think he knows it."

"So he leads us on some wild goose chase to the family farm while he licks his wounds in the middle of the woods? What's in this for Estes?" Vance asked thoughtfully.

"Don't know, Leon. What I do know is that you've just told me there's a garage full of missing weaponry including C4, RPGs, and God knows what else out there. We send our men to the most obvious location, the one Estes almost seems to be leading us to, and we're sitting ducks." The room had turned in their favor and Gibbs knew it. Vance, at the very least, was sold, but there was still a hardness around Jarvis' mouth that spoke of discontent with this new line of thinking.

"And how do we know for certain that these truly are GPS coordinates or that they're even relevant to our case? I know it's not like you but I'd hate to think you were reading more into this based on personal feelings than facts." Jarvis' posture was still relaxed though he had crossed his arms over his chest and was looking speculatively at the monitors displaying McGee's findings.

Rather than answer, Gibbs simply turned back to McGee and nodded.

"We searched public record trying to find out who owned the property. Turns out it was sold off at auction about five years ago and purchased by a small land development corporation under the name Janston-Sneeth. It didn't take us long to figure out that the name is simply an anagram for Jonathan Estes. I've uh…got some experience with anagrams and pseudonyms." McGee colored slightly before clearing his throat and moving on. "Once we had the name we ran it through a keyword search of the DOD's email database and we found several references from Estes, Langstaff, and a few other officers and enlisted scattered among the units that were deployed at the same time as Langstaff's."

"I'll be damned," Jarvis muttered.

"I hope to hell that means what I think it means, Mr. Secretary, but we've got more if it doesn't." Gibbs gestured for McGee to hold for a moment.

Jarvis' jaw worked in frustration or possibly reluctance, but it was clear now that he was convinced. "I'll need to make some calls," he said gravely.

Gibbs nodded. "We'll be here." He gave Vance a heavy look as he left the room with McGee in tow. Tony and Ziva fell in behind him as he passed through the doors. They'd crossed the first hurdle but there was a long race yet to go.

What a difference a week could make.

Tony's thoughts were an odd mix as Team Gibbs assembled with Balboa's team in the second floor conference room. A week ago he'd sat at this very table, in this very chair, watching the tension in Gibbs' jaw, listening to his clipped tone, chewing thoughtfully on the feeling that something was being held back. Today as he listened to Vance detail what he'd learned from Sec Nav in the last few hours, Tony could actually feel the gaping holes in the information they were being fed. Everything about it felt too neat, too perfectly packaged, especially for an inter-agency operation. He didn't need Gibbs' gut to tell him that he should pay close attention to what wasn't being said.

Gibbs stood beside the director, eyes glued to the satellite image of Estes' possible location. There was a stiffness to his body language beyond the usual, something Tony was pretty sure he would have noticed even before the events of the past week, and something that worried him for reasons he couldn't explain. The sense of déjà vu was overwhelming and he didn't like it one bit.

"With that in addition to the new intel brought to light by Agent Gibbs' team, you can see that we have our hands full. We have very little time to put together an insertion plan and the location is remote. There are a lot of unknowns at this point, too many for my liking." He glanced at Gibbs. "I've been working with the directors of the other agencies for the last hour and they've agreed to share relevant intelligence in order to make this run as smoothly as possible. Agent Gibbs and his team will be taking the lead on planning and on the ground but I want to emphasize again that we have a very small window of opportunity. We can't afford to make mistakes for any reason." Vance's eyes went to Jethro and Tony recalled the conversation between the two in Jethro's living room, the reason they'd been benched last night when half the district was looking for Estes.

"Once your teams are on the ground we'll be monitoring your positions and feeding you information from MTAC. I want a workable plan in motion in the next four hours. Let's go, people," Vance said by way of dismissal.

Murmurs passed between the assembled NCIS teams, all of them looking to Gibbs for direction on where to go next.

"DiNozzo, you're with me. Everyone else do whatever the hell you need to do and meet back here in ten. We're not breaking again until we've got at least two workable operations to move on." Jethro gestured vaguely to those in the room as he swept through it.

Tony felt the quick surge of adrenalin at the sound of his name from Gibbs' lips. He'd been so focused on what was being said, on reading between the lines and wondering how in the ever loving hell they were going to pull something like this off that his head had already begun running scenarios even though important details were still lacking. Now he half-jumped out of his chair, long legs carrying him to Jethro's side in a few quick strides. He glanced back with a half shrug at Ziva and McGee and wondered if the speculative looks they were currently giving him as he left alone with Gibbs would ever disappear again. Even as the question entered his head he knew the answer, but even so, it was a price he was willing to pay.

Expecting Gibbs to head for the privacy of the elevator, Tony had to do a quick side-step to keep up as the older man led him at a rapid pace down the stairs and around the corner toward interrogation. Jethro didn't bother knocking as he entered an observation room without slowing. He was halfway across the room before Tony made it through the doorway.

"Lock it," Gibbs said without turning around, his tone tight and clipped.

He did as requested, feeling his stomach knot up at something unrecognizable in the other man's voice.

Jethro planted his palms against the darkened window, leaned heavily into it with his head down between his shoulders. His fingers curled against the glass like they were trying to press through the slick and unforgiving surface. "Tell me I can't leave you behind on this op, Tony. Tell me I'm crazy to even be thinking about it, because right now I'm wishing with everything I got that I can come up with any reason at all to justify keeping you here on lockdown."

"What?" Tony's head spun, trying to follow wherever Jethro's clearly troubled mind had gotten to. "There is no way in hell you're benching me for this. You need me and you know it."

"I do need you." Jethro rounded on him now, eyes wild and desperate. "I need you safe, I need you whole. Jesus, Tony…I need you out of my head when I go after him. Don't you understand?"

"So tying me to a chair with an armed guard while you go get Estes is your solution? Leaving me behind to worry about who in the hell is gonna have your back better than I can, to watch and wait? I'm not one of your wives, Gibbs, I'm your partner. I'm your God Damn team. I go where you go whether you like it or not and not even firing me is gonna change that right now."

The sound of the chair that Jethro sent crashing into the opposite wall and subsequently the floor was bound to draw some attention to their location but Tony didn't care. There was no way he was backing down.

"Damnit, it wasn't supposed to be like this." Jethro ran a shaking hand through his hair and looked at Tony with eyes that begged him to understand.

"What happened to the man who spent a year thinking this all through?" Tony said as gently as he could under the current circumstances. "I don't know if I've ever seen you surer of anything than you were when I woke up with you on that mountain, Jethro, and I felt it this morning when you kissed me. Nothing's changed." He advanced slowly and reached out to slide the flat of his palm up Jethro's forearm to his shoulder, feeling tight muscle bunch and quiver beneath his touch. He'd never seen this side of Gibbs before last night, this raw and emotional uncertainty, and he was still a little unsure how to respond.

"You read the damn love note he left me at the gate. He wants to kill you, to take from me like he thinks I took from him. That shot through my window wasn't for me, Tony, it was for you. We both know it. And I wouldn't…" The words trailed off, strangled in his throat as Tony stepped closer, slipped strong fingers behind his neck.

"Wouldn't what?" Tony prompted. For better or worse they were going to get this out in the open. Something was obviously eating at Gibbs and even if he didn't really have a clue how to deal with the suddenly broken-looking man before him, he knew they couldn't leave this room, couldn't begin the hunt for Estes, until they'd found a way through it.

Jethro's fingers clutched fistfuls of Tony's shirt, seemingly heedless of the straining fabric as he bowed forward and set his forehead against the crux of the other man's neck and shoulder. "I wouldn't survive losing you now."

Tony felt the impact of the words against his chest, felt them sink in and tighten around his heart. There was heat pushing and pulsing behind his eyes but he refused to let it spill over. The feeling that he should say something, that he should have a response as profound as the revelation that had just been laid upon him, did not produce any words that seemed to measure up to the moment. Instead, he wrapped his arms around Jethro and pressed his lips to the silver of his hair in silence.

"Thinking about it for a year didn't mean…Jesus, I thought I could plan for this. I thought I could handle…"Jethro seemed to be grasping for the right words and he pressed harder into the warmth of Tony's body. "I never expected to feel this way again, not this strong. I didn't think it was possible."

They stood in silence for a moment and the tension ebbed slightly. "Love you too, you know," Tony whispered. "You don't think it would kill me to lose you? That I haven't been living with that weight on my shoulders for longer than you can even imagine?"

Jethro's mouth was suddenly on him, hard and desperate. Searching lips pressed him open as slightly trembling hands framed his face, calloused thumbs stroking lightly across his cheeks. For a moment they were back on the mountain beneath the stars, ice cold air nipping at their noses, no thoughts of Estes or NCIS able to penetrate the armor of their passion.

When they finally broke apart, Gibbs seemed somewhat more together, centered and determined as he released his hold on Tony's shirt and straightened. "I promised you I would find a way to make this work and I will." Jethro held his eyes steadily.

"We will make this work," Tony emphasized. "And just so you know, that doesn't involve you sneaking off on some kamikaze mission. We make a plan first."

Jethro nodded and Tony could see the reluctance there, see that this very thought had indeed been floating through his mind. "Then we'd better get started."

Tony smiled as Jethro strode from the room with purpose, but his face fell as the gravity of the situation washed over him again, punctuated by the image of two dead marines on a mountaintop. They needed a really good plan.

Thank you all so much for reading!