And here we are at the end of the story. Well done. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Not that I had low expectations going in- more like neutral. You're a cut above the average around here. If all fanfiction writers did the same amount of proofreading as you, and had the same writing ability as you, fanfiction would likely have a better reputation.

I don't know if I'll be reading this AU version of this story or not. Maybe. I have no opinion on Jeanne Benoit, since she goes back to well before I began watching the show. The effort and detail you put into what you write is obvious, and I appreciate it. Good work on this last chapter, and I look forward to seeing you write something else for NCIS.

Reynolds strikes me as a rather iconic type of police officer; I've met a few who resemble him. Just a regular guy, doing his job as best he can and looking out for his fellow officers. He clearly cares about the life of the deputy who was shot, and his anger over the fact that the man's law enforcement career has very likely been ended permanently is justified. I also understand him wanting to know more about Tony, but Gibbs' stare is a force to be reckoned with all by itself.

Tony deserves a commendation for his work in resolving this situation, but that might not be very realistic given the complications that could come from the fact that he wasn't actually cleared to resume field duty. I hope we get to find out about what becomes of Parker.

The tense situation continues. Don't blame Midshipman McCormick for not enjoying the scene a bit. You've written this quite well, especially these last few chapters. I'm looking forward to finding out what happens next.

It sounds to me like the next story is not so much a sequel as a AU version of the same story. But then you stated just that. No problem, but I don't know if I'll be able to read that one. My aim is to focus just on the NCIS-only stories of yours and review them to the best of my ability, as I promised I would do.

I sincerely hope I've been able to provide at least some of the feedback you've been hoping for. This is outstanding work. The local police probably gave it their best, but Parker was primed and ready to go and they weren't, at least not so much. It's admirable that they fell back and set up to address the situation as well as they could, even calling for SWAT. They at least avoided provoking Parker any further while they waited for Tony to get there. And, unlike the DC Metro folks, they don't seem to have too much of an issue with a federal agent stepping in.

For a guy who has a way of ticking people off with that mouth of his, Tony sure does have some ability to talk and negotiate under heavy pressure. He's managed to get some of the hostages out, which is by itself a victory. On to the next chapter. Can't wait to see how this goes.

Given my lack of familiarity with the older season of the show, I wouldn't have known Andrea Sparr from an OC or a hole in the ground. I appreciate you specifying she is a character who appeared in S5E12.

And Tony gets called back to duty. It's a wonderful thing about him that he doesn't even think about it. He's needed, so he pulls himself together and goes. Maybe this will do him more good than he realizes. Ensign McCormick is doing well at thinking under pressure. I hope she gets out of this okay. She's suffered plenty already, and just attending Annapolis is hard enough.

Looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

Excellent work with this chapter. Well done.
Some great exposition about Tony's past in this chapter. He doesn't open up about it much, but under the circumstances, and with Holly being the one he's talking to, I can understand it.
Honestly, with the parenting he was subjected to, I can hardly blame Tony for not wanting to talk about his life growing up.
I know Tony attended a succession of boarding schools around middle and high school. At this stage, that is, Season 8 or so, it had not been specified which school Tony ultimately graduated high school from.

Holly makes a good point. I think Tony, beneath the buff and bluster, can sometimes excuse people who do not treat him well, especially in regards to his growing up. Though he was understandably quite fine with being distant from his father for many years. I appreciate the degree to which Holly cares, and I'm sure Tony does, too.

Understandable that Tony does not want to be called a victim- it is not in him to have much tolerance for that. McGee means well, though, and I sincerely hope Tony does not leave NCIS as a result of this.

I suppose it's understandable also that the DC Metro guys are largely believing what they knew of Harris over what they have been told about him and the circumstances of his death. They all assumed he was an all right guy and are taking it as an insult that he apparently died at the hands of a federal law enforcement agency. But it is also disappointing that so few of them are making an effort to dig deeper than the surface- ironic given what they do.

Gibbs continues to be, as the Bob Seger song in the 1990s Chevrolet truck commercial went, "Like a rock". It is absolutely in-character for him to be so matter-of-fact about simply being here for Tony while he is needed.

Glad to see some more of McGee, who definitely earned his pay in his part of the rescue at sea.

DiNozzo Sr. definitely isn't much help here. Not at all.

Good chapter, spends some time reflecting on the events of the last one. The DC Metro guys are indeed lucky that Holly came across the scene before Gibbs did. Tony continues to get things back together again in the aftermath of everything that's happened.

A truly excellent chapter.
I was particularly engaged by this one, with the unwelcome intrusion by the DC Metro officers and the timely arrival of LTC Mann and Gibbs. It was really looking like the Metro guys were gonna get their way on that one. They almost did. Interesting- mostly over turf war nonsense, Carvaggio seems to care much less than he claims about what really happened. Ostensibly he wants to know what happened to one of his men, but it looks like he's taken the whole thing as if it were a personal slight against him by a federal agency.

Sociopaths are indeed notoriously hard to read. As children, they can often be more "normal" in appearance, at least to adults, than the actual normal children are. And as adults, their intelligence and ruthless drive often means they end up in positions of importance and responsibility. Some of them can be quite successful. If you're smart and have no morals, you can go far and it can be quite difficult to prove there's anything wrong with you.

Gibbs and Holly seem a good match for each other, when you think about it. Both are smart and have nerves of steel, and take no crap from anybody.

The CIA does deserve credit for the role they played in Tony's rescue. Even if it was an individual agent who happened to be on the ship who chose to take action on his own, the Agency still assisted in finding and rescuing Tony.

DiNozzo Sr. definitely could have done a better job back when. It was some thirty years before he and his son became friends of any sort, and a lot of that was due to Senior and his behavior.

Tony is lucky that he has people around him who care, especially Gibbs.

A good chapter, focusing on some initial aftermath as Tony and Gibbs begin to move forward. And I think Gibbs has it right. Personal insecurity and professional competence combined with good looks is almost certainly what made Brody Harris so interested in Tony DiNozzo.
I appreciate the remarks in your PM. Brody Harris is DC Metro Police, not FBI like I'd gotten to thinking. Makes what he did all the more insane.

The aftermath of all the trouble Harris caused- and Tony got himself into- continues. I like and respect Gibbs and Fornell, and of course they like and respect each other. It's a great thing that Gibbs has someone in the FBI he can depend on and trust like he can with Fornell. That has come in handy more than once.

There is some excellent dialogue between Gibbs and Fornell at the end of this chapter. Truly, excellent. I've praised your work on this story repeatedly, and for good reason, but this was especially good at the end of 20 here. "Gibbs, feed that line to someone else." Fornell makes a strong point there, and Gibbs concedes it to him, which is something he doesn't normally do with people.
Those two guys are getting to be old dogs, all right, but they still got some fight in them.

This chapter is an intriguing, well-written depiction of Tony, of Gibbs, and of Fornell as the three of them take a look back at the life that Brody Harris chose to live. He might not have been clinically insane, I don't know. But he was out of his mind all the same. You wonder where all that behavior began and how he ever came to think of it as acceptable. Regardless, Harris is responsible for his actions and the way he chose to live. Him and no one else. That is the way personal responsibility works.

Well done as usual. Excellent work.
Send reviews my way!

Also, I loved the "Ya think?" from Gibbs to Fornell at the end of this chapter.

Why DID the Agency watch Brody Harris for 10 years and do nothing? Silent and watchful, that's them, but why silent after so long, with a FBI agent engaging in so much absolutely unacceptable behavior? I remarked earlier that people who do things like this tend to make it a habit, and oh, yes, did he ever. The CIA has their reasons I am sure, but it's hard for me to see an excuse for their failure to act. This means that the situation Brody Harris caused was at least partly the Agency's fault.

Glad to see Fornell again. I like the way he and Gibbs are from separate federal LE agencies but as still comrades in arms.

Looking forward to the next chapter. I will work on reading and reviewing through to Chapter 20 today. The remaining 12 chapters I will work through as I am able to.
Let me know about that message I sent you sometime! I'd be most grateful if you could read and review some of my own work for NCIS, especially "The Cadet" as I said.