Yeah, sorry guys. You are probably tired of hearing that from me, but it's true. Time got away from me, and I just couldn't get the chapter to fit together the way I wanted it too. Also, I was waiting for my 100th review! We had 99 for so long, I thought clearly someone would come along and give us one more!

But that didn't happen, so this is because someone decided they had waited long enough to tell me to update. I want to say thank you, to that someone. Because if they hadn't told me to update, I have no idea how much longer this would have taken. Also, I have no idea how long this is going to be. Sorry guys. This might go on forever.

I love reviews, but you all probably already know this. So…yeah, thanks to Aemie, Gertrude Louise Genevieve, eventyraren, The Little Witch, mj0621, DrusillaBraun, Emsie Tate fan, and especially Han-Skywalker for being that someone to remind me! You all are really the only reason this is still going. I live off of reviews, and yours are so much appreciated, you have no idea.

Disclaimer – I am completely broke. I own nothing. Not even my soul. So it's not mine! 3

GAH!!!! Sorry guys, wouldn't let me upload my chapter. This we ready a while ago, but it wouldn't let me upload it. T.T

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The park wasn't as far as Kate would have thought from the kid's house. Three or four blocks, actually, with buildings and houses in between. It was no wonder that the mother didn't have a problem with letting her son walk his younger sister there. She could have easily reached them through yelling.

By the time Kate had reached the park, Tony had already started talking with Mike, both males sitting on a park bench as the little girl played in the sand box. Kate knew that she would be of no help barging into whatever conversation she was having, so instead she walked over to the little girl, kneeling down next to her.

"Hi, my name's Kate, what's yours?"

The little girl looked up from her sand pile for a mere second, before looking back down at it again. "Lily."

"Why hello Lily, that's a pretty name. What are you making?"

The little girl shrugged, pushing more sand up on the pile. "I don't know."

Kate smiled slightly, helping her by pushing up more sand. "Can I help?"

Lily nodded, picking up a shovel next to her and handing it to Kate. Taking it, she slowly started digging up sand and helping Lily place it on the pile, before she heard Tony come up behind her. Apparently he was done talking to Mike, so Kate stopped building. "Lily, I have to go. I can help you build this later, okay?"

Lily smiled, nodding slightly before she went back to pushing more sand.

Kate stood up, looking over to Tony with a confused expression. "Well?"

Tony shook his head, "He says he doesn't remember anything about the guy, just that he was about my height and was wearing a hood. And he ran into the woods."

"He didn't…" Kate started, looking over to where Mike was still sitting on the bench. "He didn't go inside, did he?"

Tony shook his head, combing back his brown hair. "He said that he wasn't supposed to be out that late in the first place, and if that guy told his mom he was out, he'd be dead. So he ran right home."

Sighing, Kate shook her head. "What are we going to do? Gibbs wanted answers from this kid. We have none."

Tony had been in mid-shrug when gunshots rang through the air. Both agents instinctively reached for their own guns, and started off towards the noise, which had come from the woods. Screams could be heard from everywhere as the citizens at the park ran for cover, but Kate and Tony merely ran into the woods, their weapons drawn.

They had run for a while, jumping over trees and bushes, and ducking under branches, until Tony stopped. Having been leading the two, he had caused Kate to stop. "What?" she hissed, pointing her weapon around her, into various places in the woods.

"I know why there were shots."

Confused, Kate looked behind her at Tony, who was staring down. Her eyes followed his, and her stomach dropped. "Great." She muttered. "Just great."

Below them laid a body; but not just any body. The body of their only suspect, Michael Chask.

"I'll call Gibbs."

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"What? What do you mean dead?"

With a coffee stain on his shirt, and an annoyed expression on his face, Gibbs listened to Tony explain the situation he had found himself in. So their suspect was dead, the kid was a dry lead, and they had nothing to go on. This case was getting on his nerves, and for the people that knew him, that was not good. With a sudden click, the conversation was over, and Gibbs was walking down to the lab where Abby would be waiting for him.

He needed too many things to fall into place, and they needed them to fall into place NOW. Abby's work had better be something important. Even if she had already told him what it was, there will have to be MORE.

"Gibbs!" she squealed as he opened the door. "Turn off the music Greg."

The other scientist nodded as he pressed the power button on the CD player, trying not to make eye contact with the marine.

The only female in the room smiled, bouncing over to Gibbs and grabbing onto his arm. "You didn't by chance…"

"No, Abby, I haven't. Now what was this important thing you wanted to tell me?"

Abby could instantly tell Gibbs was not in the mood to be played with. He had forgotten her drink, and he wasn't going to wait for her to tell him about how she figured everything out. Something was wrong…something must have happened when she was waiting for him to walk down.

"Well, like I told you, we took the dirt from the safe-key holder thing that was found in front of Chask's house, and started running some tests on it. After a couple of tests we found carbo-I mean, we found a compound that matches the compound found on the door handle to the crate we found petty-officer McCarthy. It matches the make-up of that lotion we've found on all of Aerie's cases! He's tied to this somehow!"

Abby was ecstatic about her find, clapping like a child after she finished telling Gibbs. What she didn't realize, was that now they had proof Aerie was involved, it only added fuel to the fire that was Gibbs' impatience. He wanted Aerie, where-ever he was, in his office. If they could nail him on this, then they could…

"Umm, excuse me?" Greg started, his voice shaking slightly. Gibbs turned to glare at the boy, before he pulled out a file. "When Abby told me about this…man that is of interest in this case, I ran a search for him in our database, just in case. This is what I found…"

He handed Gibbs a stack of four or five papers, and Gibbs, not having the time to look at them, looked back up to Greg. "And?" he asked, rather annoyed.

"And, this lotion Abby seems to be tying everything together with is custom made here in Las Vegas. The address to the factory is on the front page. Aerie is a regular there, and is supposed to be picking up a new case of this stuff sometime today, after three."

Gibbs nodded, then left the room, actually looking at the papers as he left. Good, this was good. Very good.

"You're…welcome?" Greg called after him once the door had shut. "He's not one for 'thank-you's, is he Abby?"

Abby laughed, and Greg knew the answer to his question. No.

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Nick and Warrick were on their way back to the station when they got the call. As it turned out, Mr. McCarthy had owned a handgun, but had given it to the Church. More so the security guard who patrolled the Church at night, but the Church none the less. It hadn't been the gun that was used in the shootings, so that lead had gone dry.

But what they had figured out, from a passer-byer who happened to be walking by was that the McCarthy were getting into debt. That all of their money had slowly been sucked away from them, to some other source. The person couldn't be sure what source, or exactly how much money. But they knew, because Mrs. McCarthy had been wearing the same dress to Church every Sunday, which was very unlike her.

They had been on their way back when they had gotten the call, and turned their SUV around completely to meet up with Tony and Kate. The park wasn't far from the church, so they were there within minutes.

The local police were already there, and they had been able to remove the body, sending it to the coroner's. It wouldn't be long before they had the results of how Chask had died, but for now, they needed to search the scene.

Both Kate and Tony were being interviewed when Warrick and Nick came walking up, and just happened to finish was they passed. Nick stopped to talk with Kate, as Tony ran to catch up with Warrick.

"What happened?" he asked Kate.

Shaking her head, Kate just muttered. "We had been talking with the kid when we heard shots. We ran into the woods, and almost tripped over his body. Gunshot to the head, execution style, probably COD, though I can't be sure."

"Did you-"

"No, no, we didn't see anyone else around. Believe me, I checked. Nothing clearly visible left behind, no tracks of any kind. But we didn't walk past the body, to the North. Any footprint you find over there could be helpful. I need an Advil."

"Alright, well, I'm going to go work the scene with Warrick, you just…chill, okay?" Nick said, reaching out to pull a strand of hair behind her ear. But before he could manage it, she nodded, turning to walk away.

"You have Advil in your car, Nick?" she asked as she walked off.

"Yeah, look in the console." He said after her, before he shook his head and walked back to where Warrick was already speaking with Tony.

"I hate processing woods." He heard Warrick say.

"Me too," Tony agreed. "Me too."

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"Special Agent Gibbs." Catherine called out, picking up her speed as she rushed down the hallway. "Anything on the paper?"

Gibbs didn't slow down as the CSI caught up with him, nor did he change his pace. The marine shook his head, handing Catherine the papers Greg had handed to him moments before. "You said something about having information on Aerie?" that was more of a statement than a question, on Gibbs part, but at that point in time, he really didn't care.

"I did…" Catherine started, scanning the papers in front of her. "But I had been planning on talking about it with you over a drink."

Gibbs slowed down, looking over to Catherine with a look that could have caused any other person to step back. "I'm afraid we don't have time for this. Aerie is an important suspect to this case, and I need all the information on him you've got. We don't have time for a drink."

The blonde CSI looked from Gibbs to the papers in front of her, then back at the marine. "Fine, I'll tell you. But on one condition."

Gibbs gave her a strange look, shaking his head as he started off for the parking lot yet again. "And what is that condition?"

"You buy me a drink later."

The marine rolled his eyes, continuing out the door and towards one of the Crime Lab's black SUVs. "Sounds fair." He commented, opening the driver-side door.

"Good." She said, smiling. "Oh, and I'm driving."

Gibbs, knowing better than to try and argue, shut the door and walked to the other side or the car, getting in. "Need I remind you we are on a tight schedule?" he asked, closing the door.

"Need I remind you I'm a mother? We are following the speed limit. And yes, Agent Gibbs, I have heard of your driving."

Not sure exactly how he was supposed to respond to that comment; Gibbs started looking over the papers again. Aerie was so close, again. Would he slip through their grasp? Or would this change of scenery help them finally catch this terrorist?

All that Gibbs knew was he was not going to let him go without a fight. Boy, would there be a fight.

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Kate had finally found peace. Sitting inside Nick's car, with the windows up, the doors closed, a bottle of water and a bottle of Advil. She could have been in heaven, and it would have been no different.

Alright, it might have been a bit different. She'd be in a beach, instead. With some hot guy feeding her grapes. Now that would be nice. And a martini, with a band playing soft jazz music in the background. And…

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.

Of course her little piece of heaven had to stop, she felt her phone vibrating inside her pocket, and after destroying her comfortable position in order to get a hold of that device, she opened it and placed it to her ear.

"Yes?"

"Kate? I want you and Tony to look for that gunman. Or the route he was taking, or something. Follow the route they probably took into the woods. I don't want either of you back until you find something. Got it?"

It was Gibbs, of course. Asking the impossible.

"But the shooting was nearly an hour ago! They could be anywhere by now! What would Tony and I in a forest do to help this case?"

"Kate, Aerie is involved in this. We know he's still in Vegas, and he's not leaving until at least after 6. He's around there somewhere. Go find something." CLICK.

Wait, what did he mean Aerie was involved? He was a terrorist, and the double homicide of a simple suburban family was not exactly striking terror into the hearts of millions. What was he up to?

But, with Gibbs being Gibbs, he didn't explain it at all. She had her orders, and he would be even more pissed if she didn't follow them. And she was so close to a nap!

Shaking her head, she opened the door, calling out to Tony. "Gibbs has another assignment for us! Let's get going!"

Tony finished talking with Warrick, and ran to catch up with Kate, who had started into the woods. "What did he say?" he asked, tucking as a tree-branch came flying towards his face.

"He wants us to go into the woods and find something."

"What does he want us to find?" Tony asked, avoiding another tree-branch.

"Something, I told you. He didn't give any specifics. We have to go and find SOMETHING. Apparently Aerie is involved, and Gibbs thinks he's still around here somewhere." Kat answered, letting go of another branch to fly back and hit Tony.

"Oh. Okay then."

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Oh, right. Last chapter, I forgot to mention how I love Relient K! Mood Rings is the song, if you want to listen to it. It was really my inspiration last chapter, so yeah. This chapter's for Han-Skywalker. You lucky person you.

Hope you liked the chapter! And I can finally fit my half-written chapter in NEXT chapter! God this is taking forever. Love you all!