Here's to the Miracles

Author: Help I'm A Rock

Summary: Tony looked up and Kate quickly looked away. She'd been playing this game for almost an hour; Her looking at him absent-mindedly, chewing on her pencil, then he'd look up and she'd look away in the nick of time and unfortunately, it seemed he was catching on. Tate.

Warnings: K+ now, T later. Nothing too terrible.

Disclaimer: Not Mine! Do you think anything's changed since the last disclaimer?

A/N: My first NCIS fic. So be nice. The chapters aren't too long because the plot will be revealed too fast.

This is like flangst; a delicious flan of bittersweet chocolate and honey. Some bits sweet and fluffy and the rest, just a tad depressing, all baked at 180C, or for you Fahrenheiters 350 degrees. Serve promptly.

Kate looked around at everyone starting at the pair of them. It must have been an awkward sight; Tony steering her towards the stairwell by her shoulders.

She could almost guarantee that the agents in the bullpen were confirming their suspicions that those in the Gibbs Team always were and always will be lunatics.

Tony slowly closed the door to the stairwell and slumped his back against it, so as not to let Kate out or anyone else in.

He breathed in.

He breathed out.

'So.' He began, not really sure what he was going to say, or how he was going to say it.

'Yes?' Kate asked, impatiently. It wasn't so much impatience, but a façade to cover her anxiety. We'll call it non-impatience for this purpose.

'So,' Tony said, beginning to pace backwards and forwards.

'I'm sorry for being a jerk and never giving you a chance to expect anything great from me, but…'

Backwards.

'You've got to cut me some slack, alright?'

Forwards.

'You didn't give me much to work with last night… And I partly except the blame, but…'

Backwards.

'You could have been a bit less harsh!'

Forwards.

'Pretended to be enjoying yourself, even for a minute!'

Backwards.

'But the fact is…'

Forwards.

'I really…'

Backwards.

'…really, really, really, really, really, really, really…'

Forwards.

'… really, really, really, really…'

Backwards.

'… really…'

A shrill beeping noise came from Kate's pocket.

She pulled out her pager and scanned it quickly with her eyes. She ran out of the stairwell, tying her hair back as she went.

Tony stood there alone in the cold, concrete room as the iron door clunked shut.

'… like you.'

'I killed them! I smashed their annoying little heads into the ground.'

'Why?' Gibbs asked firmly. His voice bounced off the walls of the interrogation room.

'I wanted to! I hated them. They were a reminder. Every day. Feeding them. Another man's kids! I just wanted Nancy to see what it was doing to me. Every day being reminded of the two times she'd betrayed me!'

'Mr Jeffries.' Gibbs said, leaning over him. 'They couldn't help that. Do you think it's fair? That they were killed, because you were angry at someone else?'

'Are you saying I should have killed Nancy instead?' Mr Jeffries asked. His skinny arms folded over his tattooed chest.

'You did.' Gibbs said. 'Why teach Nancy a lesson and then kill her?'

There was a pause and a crinkled and confused expression spread itself across the man's face.

'But…' He said slowly. 'I didn't.'

Gibbs stopped, wiped his brow, and exited the room.

He made his way to the viewing room.

'Do you think he's lying?' McGee asked.

'Not about killing the children.' Kate answered for Gibbs.

A vicious voice came from the other side of the non-mirror; 'WHAT HAPPENED TO MY NANCY?'

'Where's Tony?' Gibbs sighed.

'I… don't know.' Kate said.

'Find him, find Abby. Go over the footage. Identify anyone on tape. Interview them all.' He said making his way for the door. 'I really need coffee.'

'Nothing and no one.' Abby said, sighing and taking a long sip from her Caf-Pow.

'Maybe if you divide each frame into four squares, enhance each one and give us one to monitor each…' Kate said, pulling her sleeves down from their crumpled position at her elbows to keep her warm.

'But there are so many videos to go through.' Tony griped.

'What's the point of going through them all quickly and missing something?' Kate asked.

'I think it's a great idea.' Abby smiled, typing away on two keyboards at once; hers and the one computer un-savvy DiNozzo was using.

Within the first ten seconds of watching his feed, McGee let out a yelp.

'Got something!' He yelled.

'It's ok McGee. I'll hold you.' Tony mocked.

'Look! A figure… the time stamp is 0400… the morning Nancy was killed.' Mc Gee said typing away. 'I'll pull it up.'

A large image as clear as daylight came up on the main screen; blonde woman in her 20s with hair extensions that could fuel a fire for at least an hour.

'Hi Agent Tony. Nice of you to drop by!' Allison chirped. 'Knew you couldn't stay away.

'Allison, we'd like to ask you a few questions.' Tony said sternly.

'Anything!' She smiled.

'What were you doing leaving here at 0400 this morning?'

'I went to get a bite to eat. Why?'

'Then why didn't you come back until 0500?' Kate asked.

'I had to find a place that was open.' Her sunny demeanour started to disappear. 'Why?'

'Weren't you meant to be monitoring this area to make sure that if Nancy returned, you would be able to refer her to us?' McGee asked.

'I don't appreciate being interrogated by newbies.' Allison spat.

'I don't appreciate you demeaning one of my fellow agents.' Kate retaliated.

'Look, I let my guard down, ok? I apologise, but there's very little I can do about it now!'

'We'd like to take you in to ask you a few more questions.' Tony asked.

'I went to get some food. Is that such a crime?' Allison asked heatedly.

'No, but murder is.' Tony said, steering her toward the door.

'Isn't it funny.' She smirked.

'What?' He asked.

She looked him right in the eye, bitterness radiating off her skin.

'The only time I get close enough to you, you can only think about arresting me.'

'What makes you think she's the killer?' Gibbs asked, swirling his coffee.

'The time and dates stamps one the videos fit.' McGee replied.

'Anything… say concrete?' Gibbs asked, almost yelling. 'Because you dragged a local LEO in here, telling her you suspect her of murder when all she did was leave her post for an hour.'

'She did a lot more than that boss!' Tony almost-yelled back.

'How can you be sure?' Gibbs asked, towering over Tony. 'How, DiNozzo?'

'Let me interrogate her. If she's innocent, it's all on my ass.' He offered.

'Mine too.' McGee said. 'I suspected her first. I'll help interrogate.'

'I'll make the call.' Kate said, separating herself from the crossfire of icy glares.

Gibbs and Kate stood behind the non-mirror in the interrogation room, non-talking figures, making eye non-contact.

Tony leaned against the wall and Mc Gee stood awkwardly next to him.

'Are… are we going to ask her anything?' McGee whispered to Tony.

'In good time…' Tony said, straightening up and walking over to the table.

'McGee,' Tony asked, 'Would you like to begin?'

McGee began to mumble but was greeted with a 'suck-it-in' look.

'Uh… Miss Harris,' McGee said with non-confidence, 'you left at 0400 to go and get something to eat, yes?'

'I think we established that long ago, cowboy.' Allison sniped.

'Where exactly did you go to get something to eat?'

'A small fast food place a few blocks away.' She said rolling her eyes.

'How many blocks?' Tony asked.

'Five, maybe six?' She asked. 'Why?'

'Just wondering how it took you so long to get a meal…' Tony said, circling the table. 'Can they verify it?'

'Call them. It's Smokey Joe's Pizza Palace. Happy?'

'Make the call.' Gibbs said to Kate.

'So Miss Harris, can you tell me a bit about what you were hired to do?' Tony asked, still circling the table.

'Hired to?'

'Security wise, by the FBI…'

'Make sure NCIS didn't get the tapes mostly. But I failed at that.' She scoffed

'Just like you failed to stay at your post.' Tony added.

'Get over it.' She hissed.

'Murder isn't something the folks at NCIS can just "get over".' He yelled, leaning over her once again.

'Tony, stop.' Gibbs' voice came from behind the non-mirror. 'She checks out.'

Tony turned to face Allison.

'Can I go now?' She asked impatiently.

'I guess you can.' Tony replied, holding the door open for her. 'Hopefully we'll be seeing more of you soon.'

'Not too soon, I hope.' She growled.

A/N: Short, Slightly Tate… yes, very happy to get to this point in the story.

Sorry for the even massiver (6 month) delay. Lots of stuff happened; my dog got really ill again, I re-rekindled my interest in portraiture, mixed media collage and abstract ink drawing, and I was given another pile of holiday assessments to do.

Thanks for hanging in there; the story's coming to an end!

You guys are champions.

Darcie