Rating: T mainly for the odd bit of bad language.

Disclaimer: Obviously I don't own NCIS or any of its characters but the LOLs are all mine.

Beta: Kudos to Arress who came up with the Thanksgiving idea to bring Carla, Lil and Rae back again and she Beta'ed the story, provided her usual support. I've messed with the story again after she wrangled my punctuation into behaving so any boo boos are definitely my bad. Look forward to your feedback.

Who's Been Cooking in my Kitchen?

A/N Although this is a belated Thanksgiving story, better late than never. I've been looking for an opportunity to bring the LOLs Carla, Lil and Rae back again and thought that this was a good opportunity. As I am still working on it I decided to post it in two parts. Hope you'll enjoy spending some time with the LOLs again and I couldn't resist inviting a favourite character to dinner. As I'm not an American and have never celebrated the holiday, writing about it was somewhat challenging. And for any Aussies that are reading this, cyber cookies if you can correctly identify the writers little ethnocentric references in this chapter.

This story is AU as I needed to alter the timeline in order to include a favourite character. So this takes place early in season three and Cate is still with the team as Twilight hasn't happened yet and therefore there is no Ziva.

Part One

Tony was seated at the dinner table of one of his favourite ladies as he tucked into a steaming plate of soup. Thursday night was comfort food night with the LOLs, as he jokingly referred to them, although Lil, Rae and Carla told everyone that asked, and even those that didn't ask, they were his grandmas. A happenstance which always provoked reactions in people thus informed ranging from outright disbelief to fond amusement since there was absolutely no homogeneity between the three little old ladies or LOLs, and definitely no resemblance to Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo. Lillian Cramer was the archetypal storybook granny, all soft round curves, snowy white hair done up in a bun and pin curls, her friend, Carla Santiago, was a tall Latino octogenarian that was about as soft as polish marble, at least on the outside. The final member of the trio was Raelene Jones who was a tall thin African-American lady in her early eighties, all sharp angles and incredibly wiry.

Thursday nights were always something to be looked forward to for all four of them since they loved to coddle him with home cooked food and attention. Even though Tony didn't have a lot of practise when it came to being cosseted, the LOLs had been working on him for a while now, trying to convince the little boy inside the closed off man that he was worthy of their affection and efforts. They took it in turns to make dinner for him once a week and tonight it was Lil's turn to cook dinner for him, if he succeeded in getting away from NCIS at a civilised hour.

Lil watched him intently, her faded blue eyes glowing with satisfaction and affection as he devoured her cooking like he'd never had a decent meal before. Seeing she was watching him, Tony smiled back at her fondly before also extending the smile to include his two other favourite ladies.

"Eat up, Tony. There's plenty more where that came from," she smiled indulgently. "Then there's pot-roast and apple pie for dessert," She informed him, sensing that his mind was somewhere else during this revealing of what was on the menu.

Carla took a spoonful of the rich beef, barley with root vegetable soup and nodded appreciatively. "S'good soup, Lil. Add a little chilli and it would be perfect," She commented, continuing a decade's long debate that the three friends had shared about each other's cooking.

Rae weighed in, "Nonsense, Carla, chillies would overpower the subtlety of the flavours although I do think that mustard greens could enhance the richness without overshadowing the other flavours."

Lil exchanged a placid smile with Tony before responding. "Oh, get on with you. Do I try to teach your grandmothers to suck eggs?" She asked her friends. When they looked confused, she rephrased it. "Do I come to your apartment, sit down at your table and eat the fruits of your labour and then have the bad manners to tell you how you could improve your secret family recipes? Well, do I?" She demanded glaring at her friends.

Laughing at the outraged expression of her two friends, Tony joined the discussion. "Umm yeah, Lil, you kinda do."

Laughing as well as she conceded, "Well, maybe… but only because I'm the superior cook," She boasted, ignoring outraged snorts of laughter and eye rolling from her two long-time friends.

The three of them had been living in the same apartment block for over 15 years and were very close friends. Each of them had been there for each other when they'd been widowed, or in Rae's case, finally tossed her good-for-nothing husband out on his ass after one floozy too many found their way into her bed when her back was turned. So, they'd been a much needed lifeline for each other and they'd now considered themselves to be family. And like any good family, they had their petty squabbles and attempts to one up each other, especially when it came to cooking.

More than four years ago, they'd adopted a young waif who had moved into their apartment block from Baltimore to become a Federal Agent. He had no family (well, none that bothered to stay in contact with him), he seemed to be everyone's friend, and he would give them the shirt off his back if they asked, and insist they take it anyway even if they didn't. Women adored him and clamoured to go out with him and he seemed to be an incorrigible flirt and was always dating, yet he was very wary of anything but the most superficial of social contacts. Of course, the LOLs understood that most of the fault of Tony's standoffishness could be laid at the feet of one young music teacher who he'd been seeing when he first came to DC.

Wendy Miller had hurt their surrogate grandson when she agreed to marry him and then left him the night before their wedding. He'd also hinted that he'd left his old job because his partner had betrayed his trust, and this was reason enough to distrust people and not want them getting too close. So, they watched sadly as Tony went out with a new girl more often than most people changed their bedclothes, sad because they knew it was a sign of how much he was hurting.

Sadly, they could see how lonely Tony really was even if his so co-workers, who were supposed to be brilliant investigators, seemed well and truly fooled by his playboy persona. But oddly enough, Lil thought, he'd slowly allowed them to worm their way into his life and affections, and after his injury several years ago where he'd been attacked while coming to the aid of a young street kid, they'd appointed themselves his protectors. What was distressing to Lil and her friends was just how clueless Tony was about accepting even the most simple of kindnesses, and yet he was so genuinely concerned about other people's troubles and needs. She didn't like the implications; both what it implied about his childhood experiences and how he lived his life now, and the LOLs redoubled their efforts to spoil him and make up for an impoverished childhood.

When he'd arrived at her apartment a while ago, it was obvious to Carla, Rae and Lil, who knew him well, that he had something on his mind. Rae finally decided to take the bull by the horns and she smiled at her two friends before plunging in.

"What's up, Hon?"

Tony started and looked guilty, then embarrassed. "Sorry, ladies, I'm not being a good guest tonight. My apologies. And considering the wonderful food and beautiful company, that's a crime. Bad Tony!" He scolded himself jokingly. "Just thinking…I know it's rude to ask, but I was wondering if it would be okay to bring someone to Thanksgiving dinner?"

The LOLs all smiled. Tony never formally introduced any of his girlfriends to them, so perhaps he had finally met someone who had got inside his defences.

Carla was first off the blocks. "Silly boy, of course you can bring a guest. You don't have to ask… we would love to meet your special lady."

Tony looked at her with a look of horror and panic on his face before he was able to effectively mask it with his usual happy-go-lucky nothing fazed him expression. "Um, no… it's not a girl, Rae."

Lil exchanged a look with Rae and Carla. Was Tony trying to tell them something? Wondering who would pick up the slack, the tall angular Hispanic octogenarian squared off her shoulders and took a deep breath and the other LOLs sighed in relief. After all, her grandson had come climbed of the cupboard a few years before. Strange expression that, Lil mused.

"There's nothing wrong with loving a man, Antonio, if it makes you both happy. We'd be honoured to meet your special friend."

Tony stared at his borrowed Grans like they had two heads before he started giggling wildly. Finally seeing their distress and confusion, he pulled himself together so he could explain. "Oh, sorry, my lovely LOLs, but I think we have our wires crossed. I don't want to bring a 'special friend' to Thanksgiving dinner, male OR female. But I met this old guy on a case at work and he's lost his wife and they didn't have any kids and he's all alone."

The expression on his face as he said that made the LOLs long to wrap him in a group hug and take away all his bad memories.

"Anyway, he was a Marine during WWII and he is a genuine hero, won the Medal of Honour for his bravery. And I spent the night with him when we were investigating his case and he's such a great old guy, but he's not coping well being alone, and I know how hard it can be to be alone on the holidays, so I wondered if you'd mind if Ernie had dinner with us? I really think you'll like him." He explained, eagerly tripping over the account.

The LOLS looked at him fondly, but also a little sadly. It was typical of their lad, Lil thought, that he would think about a lost soul he'd met who was suffering and alone. But how sad was it that he was still so hurt by that little piece of work that broke his heart that he couldn't or wouldn't let anyone get close enough to share the holidays with him. Lil knew that his team mates were all heading off to friends or family, and if they hadn't insisted that he come and join them since none of their families would be in DC either, Tony would have probably offered to work for one of the other teams. How sad was that?!

Carla placed her hand, ravished by time and arthritis, lovingly on his forearm. "Of course we don't mind, Dearie," she declared fondly, her voice wavering oh so slightly as she tried not to tear up. Of the three, Carla was the most pragmatic, and as a mother and grandmother, had never been an overly demonstrative person, but somehow without even trying Tony seemed to be able to evoke in all his Grans' reactions that bordered on over top displays of affection and obsessing over him incessantly. So much so that even matter-of-fact Carla practically turned into a pile of goo around him. "We would be proud to meet you war hero and consider it our honour to cook for him." She looked teasingly at the remaining LOLs. "Of course, he might have to eat some dishes that are crying out for a helping of chilli or some jalapenos, but I'll make sure there's lots of properly spicy food for him to enjoy."

~00000~

The MCRT was situated in the bullpen putting the final touches to their reports for the fraud case they'd just wrapped up. In a few hours they would all be on a four-day break and Cate, Tim and Abby would be wending their way home. Tony wasn't sure what Gibbs did on Thanksgiving, but he figured it would probably involve an intimate discussion with Jack Daniels and his partially-built boat in his basement. Tony put down the receiver of his office phone, concerned that Ernie hadn't answered.

When Tony had called to tell him that he was invited to spend Thanksgiving with the LOLs, Tony he could tell how moved the old guy had been even though he didn't say much. Working with Gibbs, the world biggest emotional and verbal iceberg – nine tenths of what Gibbs was thinking and feeling was under the surface, so Ernie's gruff exterior really didn't faze him at all. But Ernie was upset because he wanted to contribute and he said he didn't have the ingredients to make his wife Dorothy's famous pecan pie. Tony had promised to pick up all the fixings for him and said he call back today to get the list.

So, it was almost knock off time and Tony had been ringing him off and on all day. Tony's gut was starting to really bother him and he couldn't wait to head over and check on the Medal of Honour recipient and make sure he was okay. Ever since he'd spent the night on Ernie's couch and seen the love he'd shared with his dead wife and how sad he was, Tony had felt protective of the elderly veteran. He'd made it his business to keep an eye on him and he'd grown genuinely fond of the old guy.

Meanwhile, his constantly calling and not getting an answer had attracted the attention of the rest of the team. Gibbs had balled him out for making personal calls on his time, which was why he'd called now when Gibbs had been summoned to Morrow's office. Cate and McGee had automatically assumed that Tony's repeated phone calls had been to one of his numerous female friends and that she had dumped him.

While a part of him was gratified that his team mates didn't have a clue what made him tick because people he trusted always seemed to betray or hurt him, a part of him was heartsick because his team mates didn't have a clue what made him tick. Still as much as he abhorred being seen as weak, he was also afraid if people learnt how sensitive and vulnerable he really was that they would use that info against him. And really, it wasn't as if he was paranoid. His father always knew how to find his soft underbelly then twist the knife and watch him squirm, and Gibbs was also adept at it, too, as those comments when he found Gunnery Sergeant Altas proved.

So, he smirked and pretended that it didn't bother him that they all thought he was organising his dating schedule for the holiday period while he was supposed to be working. Although mentally he wondered what was wrong with him that people were so quick to believe the worst of him. Perhaps his father had been right about him all along.

Tony looked at the clock again – 1647 and decided to try Ernie again when Gibbs came bounding down the stairs.

"Thought I told ya that personal calls were for personal time, DiNozzo? "Course, if you need more time to organise your social life then that could be arranged, too. Don't need anyone on the team that isn't 100 per cent focused," He barked before giving the rest of the team a look that the juniors couldn't identify, although it wasn't too difficult for Tony to decode.

It was relief combined with purpose, and a little bit of guilt thrown in but all damped down, as if Gibbs didn't want anyone to know what he was feeling. Snorting mentally, Tony decided that was not exactly a new phenomenon. He'd noticed as the day moved inexorably closer to their four-day holiday, how morose, even grumpy Gibbs had become. Now he was almost thrumming with suppressed excitement. It was almost anticlimactic when Gibbs tried to look contrite.

"Gear up, people, Admiral's granddaughter has gone missing, suspected kidnapping and SecNav wants us to handle the case."

Tony looked at his co-workers. Probie's face fell and Cate scowled. "What about Thanksgiving, Gibbs? What happened to our four-day break?" She snarked at him, disappointed not to be going home to Indiana.

Trying to look sorry, but failing woefully, Gibbs shrugged. "There's a young girl missing, Agent Todd."

Cate looked unconvinced. "And I'm sorry about that, but why can't Balboa's team deal with it? Their rostered on, not us," She argued petulantly.

Tony could have told her not to waste her breath, but the snarky profiler would just give him a withering look that made it plain that she thought he was an imbecile. Yet, even a mentally challenged male like him could have told her that when a child was in peril, Gibbs wasn't going to let this one go through to the keeper or in this case, Balboa's team. SecNav might have demanded Gibbs take the case, but he'd lay odds that Gibbs didn't protest much, or at all. It wasn't that Gibbs wanted to spoil his team's plans for the holiday, even he wasn't that much of a bastard… well, not over something like that! It was just that Gibbs loathed holidays…probably even more than Tony did.

The difference was that Tony didn't begrudge his co-workers and team mates their enjoyment of holidays just because he didn't usually have anyone special to share it with. He usually just offered to work for people who wanted to celebrate, and staying busy at work took his mind off what he was missing out on while feeling like at least he was helping those people who could enjoy the holidays. Gibbs, Tony suspected would have been more than happy to be able to eradicate the holidays completely so he wasn't reminded of them. He wondered what had happened to the Boss that he became such a holiday Grinch.

Worried about Ernie, his gut telling him that something was up, Tony bit the bullet and opened his mouth. "Um ,I need to check on someone. I won't be long, I'll meet you all at the scene."

Gibbs glared and took off for the elevator. "Get your ass into gear, DiNozzo. Sure your girlfriend is fine. Just doesn't want to talk to ya."

"Not a girlfriend, Boss. I promise I'll be really quick, but I need to go and make sure…"

"Move it, DiNozzo. SecNav wants the MCRT on the case, all of us. If you want to stay on the team, get into the truck."

Sighing, Tony grabbed his backpack and yelled to the disappearing team, "I'll take the stairs."

While many people would think that Gibbs was just being a bastard, Tony excused his boss' harshness on the grounds that; a) Gibbs hated cases involves kids, and b) Gibbs was a predator, and like a wolf, once he had the scent of his prey or was given a case, he wouldn't rest until he had cornered and devoured said prey. As such, anyone that got between him and his goal did so at their peril.

Pulling out his cell phone as he ran down the stairs he called one of his DC LEO contacts, Officer Trish Lopez. He was going to have to call in one of his favours to ask her to go and check on Ernie since he couldn't check on him personally, but he didn't begrudge it. Not for Ernest Yost, MOH, and unless Tony knew he was okay, he wouldn't be able to focus on the case. "Hey, Trish… calling in a favour. Need you to check on a friend of mine. I'm worried cuz he's not answering his phone and I've just been called out on a big case." He quickly gave her a run-down about Ernie Yost and his address and asked the cop to let him know how she got on.

Diving into the truck he was relieved to see he'd managed to beat the rest of the team, and Cate and McGee looked annoyed that he'd managed to grab the best seat. Of course, he realised that it wasn't really what had upset them; both were crushed that their holiday plans were in ruins. Still, it hurt that they took out their anger by being snarky at his expense. Cate casting aspersions on his current girlfriend – make that fictional girlfriend, and Probie who combined with his disappointment and relative safety from the back of the truck, got a bit too personal about his failure to go home to New York. Frustrated, worried and more than a little hurt with his team mates, Tony contemplated telling them that his so-called girlfriend was Ernie Yost, but he honestly didn't think they'd believe him.

Cate might be a profiler, but as far as Tony was concerned, she sucked when it came to seeing him for who he really was. It was like she had made up her mind about what he was in the first week or two that she met him, and anything about him she observed that wasn't consistent with the profile she'd formed was downplayed or ignored while anything that fit her less than flattering opinion of him was exaggerated or noted for eternity. Fed up with their teasing, he was pretty sure if he did tell them he'd befriended Ernie and was worrying about him, it wouldn't matter. They only wanted to see him as a womanising clown who apart from playing fetch for Gibbs, just fooled around most of the time and got lucky occasionally when investigating cases.

Giving himself a mental shake, he scolded himself for being selfish. Cate and Probie had been looking forward to going home to spend the holiday with their families, so, of course they were angry and needed to lash out at someone. It wasn't as if they could take their frustration out on Gibbs. Tony was just a convenient target and needed to suck it up. After all, as Gibbs SFA, it was part of his job and he was good at it. He'd had a lot of practice!

Later on, watching Gibbs stare at Courtney-Jayne's overturned bike, the training wheels still attached, a doll ensconced in the cane basket looking sad and pathetic, he knew this was going to be a bad one. The Admiral's daughter stood crying as the Boss interviewed her about the man who'd snatched her daughter, Courtney-Jayne, while Cate and Probie processed the scene and Tony interviewed the LEOs and several witnesses. He knew there'd be no rest for the wicked tonight, or any of the rest of them, either. Gibbs was on a tear!

Tony was already feeling the effects of the new orifice that Gibbs had given him from taking Office Lopez's call to let him know that she'd found Ernie, confused and dehydrated on the floor with a broken wrist. The doctor was going to admit him and she brushed aside his thanks, telling him that she'd settle for him buying her dinner. "Sure, Trish, as long as it's not Lobster Thermidor," He joked, turning and finding Gibbs breathing down his neck with a scary expression on his face. "Got to go, Babe."

"You did good, Tony. Mr. Yost could have been there for days before anyone found him. Happy Thanksgiving!"

"Ditto, Trish." He finished his call and slipped his cell phone into his pocket.

The ensuing confrontation with Gibbs wasn't pretty and Tony knew they were all in for a rocky time until they found Courtney-Jayne, one way or another. Seeing Cate and Probie's distress, he figured that they both needed to call their folks and let them know not to expect them, but neither dared to make a personal call with Gibbs so feral. Shrugging since he was in deep shit with Gibbs already, he decided to take another one for the team. Telling the two juniors he'd give them both two minutes each to call their family and break the bad news while he distracted Gibbs, he told them to wait for his signal.

Proceeding to lead Gibbs off a little way and deliver a sitrep, he gave the agreed signal to his juniors and focused on pissing Gibbs off sufficiently so that his situational awareness was impaired. Of course, he got a Gibbs' slap and some cutting comments about his lack of useful Intel and his obsession with calling his girlfriend, and although he did attempt to tell Gibbs that he was talking to a LEO, his boss wasn't in a listening mood. Flicking a sneaky glance at Cate and McGee, he saw the objective had been achieved and he shrugged. Convincing Gibbs when his mind was made up was an exercise in futility, so he desisted. As a former partner of his used to say in Peoria – I'll die one day for want of breath!

Trying not to take his comments to heart, since he knew the Boss hated cases involving kids, his attempts to brush off his hurt were only moderately successful. After all, it was his job to take Gibbs' anger and deflect it before it could do any damage to innocent targets. Well, other than him, of course. He was expendable since he wasn't the forensic extraordinaire, the psychological profiler, the computer guru or the eccentric but brilliant ME, any of which were depended upon to give Gibbs the leads he needed to find one scared little girl.

Maybe one of these days he would snoop around and find out why it was that cases involving kids seemed to really push all of Gibbs' buttons so badly. But then again, maybe not, and it had nothing to do with being scared of pissing off the Boss. Tony had far too many of his own dirty secrets that he never wanted his team mates to learn, mostly about his childhood, so even though he was curiosity personified, it was pretty clear that Gibbs didn't want anyone sticking their noses into his secrets.

00000

Gibbs had completely forgotten that his team had had their four-day holiday cancelled pretty much as soon as they were walking out the door. And if he did remember, then he probably wouldn't have lost that much sleep over it, either, since a young child had been abducted and the only thing that mattered was finding her alive and returning her home to her parents. But he did listen when Ducky argued that the team needed to take a break since they'd already pulled a 48-hour shift without a break before they'd landed the abduction case. Although he was loath to let any of them slack off since time was crucial, Ducky had sensibly suggested that they could be sent home in shifts to get some sleep.

He had to admit that McGee and Todd had come back fresh and focused, but in Tony's case, while he was much more focused when he returned, he looked like crap, and if he found out that DiNozzo had been tomcatting around with his girlfriend instead of sleeping, he would make him sorry he was ever born. Going to the head and sleeping might be necessary functions for his agents to waste time on while they were working a case, but even eating was not something he was convinced that his team was entitled to, not until Courtney-Jayne Stephenson was back home again. So, it went without saying that his SFA letting his little DiNozzo off the leash was definitely not on the list of permissible behaviours. Putting the matter aside for now since DiNozzo was working diligently at the moment, Gibbs added it to his list to be addressed at some later date. His SFA joked that he had a memory like an elephant – he never forgot – and in that regard, DiNozzo was correct.

The Stephenson's were beside themselves with worry for their six-year-old and Gibbs was equally appalled at the thought of such a baby in the hands of hardened criminals. They had thought from the get-go that the motive for the kidnapping was financial. Lieutenant Jonathon Stephenson had enjoyed a somewhat modest inheritance from his grandfather's passing, although by the time he had paid off outstanding creditors – mostly medical bills, then the amount was almost $39,000, but then maybe the kidnappers thought that Admiral Steele had a lot more serious cash than was the case. And it hadn't taken long for the kidnappers to make their ransom demands known – a quarter of a million dollars no less.

Immediate persons of interest, apart from the probate lawyer and extended family who knew about the inheritance that might be disgruntled at Stephenson's inheritance, were the only people that Jonathon had confided in regarding his good fortune. His team mates, Lieutenant Marty Rhone, Ensign James Reyne and Chief Petty Officer Ronnie Burns, were all under the spotlight as possible suspects, based purely upon the fact that hardly anyone else knew about his legacy. So, the trio was dragged into NCIS and questioned. McGee thought it was Ensign Reyne since he was in a serious amount of debt from a gambling problem. Cate thought it was Lieutenant Rhone because he had a high IQ and was capable of planning the crime.

When pushed for a possible motive by Gibbs since her reasons seemed fairly weak, she reluctantly admitted that Rhone had angry eyes. Gibbs snorted, wondering how profilers managed to get out of bed in the mornings without hurting themselves. What the Hell did that even mean, cuz most people reckoned the NCIS agent had angry eyes? Considering that his profiler had gone soft on a terrorist because he had kind eyes, he didn't pay that much heed to Cate's reasoning. Personally, he liked the Chief Petty Officer Ronnie Burns because the guy was acting hinky, as Abby would say. Fornell, a walking cliché for G Men, would probably call it acting real squirrelly, but to Gibbs he was as guilty as Hell. His Gut was telling him that the sailor was hiding something and he intended to find out what it was. Time was running out and he wasn't going to let Kelly Joanne…er Courtney –Jayne down. Not this time!

DiNozzo didn't seem to like any of their suspects, which was surprising considering how quick he usually was to blame it on the most obvious suspect, as per his experience as a cop which taught him that often the simplest solution or the person closest to the crime was the one responsible.

Focusing on CPO Burns, since Gibbs trusted his gut over his profiler's, he prepared to go back into interrogation and get the truth out of him, one way or another. Tom Morrow waylaid him, well aware of Gibbs' Achilles heel when it came to any case that involved children.

Quickly assessing Gibbs' mental state, and deciding that he was likely to beat the truth out of the suspect, very violently, the director ordered that Tony conduct the interview. Gibbs protested vigorously… of course he did, for form's sake. He had a reputation to maintain, but a small part of him was relieved that the Director wouldn't let him interrogate the bastard. He might not be able to stop if he got started, and killing the dirtbag before they found Courtney-Jayne would not be good. It would create too much paperwork.

It didn't take DiNozzo long to buddy up with the dirtbag, Gibbs thought, watching his senior field agent play the friendly, easy-going, not overly bright Navy cop, and soon the pair was joking like a couple of frat brothers. Part of him knew it was all just an act and disguised a very dangerous temper that was seriously scary when his SFA let loose, but Gibbs was still longing to head slap the agent like he'd never head slapped him before. Turns out his gut was right and wrong. Burns in short order spilled his guts to DiNozzo that the reason why he was acting guilty was because although Stephenson had requested that he keep his inheritance quiet, Burns had told his girlfriend. Idiot!

So, now they needed to talk to Pattie Amphlett, who was Ensign Burns' girlfriend, although as a EMT, she was probably not a person of interest, but maybe she had told someone without meaning to. As they tossed info around in the bull pen, Gibbs could see that Tony had zoned out, and he hoped that he was about to pull off one of his famous intuitive leaps that closed out so many cases. Realising that he was thinking, he sent the two junior agents to fetch Ms. Amphlett to the office so he could interview her and left Tony to 'meditate'. This position of meditation that he adopted, lying supine in his desk chair, his feet on his desk and his eyes closed or sometimes wearing sunglasses, lead the uninitiated to leap to the erroneous conclusion that he was sleeping on the job.

The first time Gibbs made this mistake and crept up to scare the living daylights out of his agent by waking him forcefully, DiNozzo had turned the tables by asking if he what he wanted without any change in body posture or even respiration. As relaxed as he appeared to be, DiNozzo maintain his situational awareness, but he simply let the rest of the world assume he was slacking off while his brain performed its mental gymnastics. Now, fifteen minutes later he sprung up out of his chair, his eyes sparkling with excitement as he made connections that he'd probably been grappling with from the start when he'd declared that none of Stephenson's buddies were POIs.

"Gibbs, what if Stephenson or his buddies told someone about his inheritance?"

Gibbs felt his stomach drop since he'd been pinning his hopes on Tony coming up with a harebrained idea or a brilliant lead. Disappointment made him more sarcastic than usual when he barked at his SFA, "We already knew that. That's why Amphlett is coming in. That's what you took two hours to figure out?" Okay slight exaggeration! "It took ya that long to come up something a probie could have come up with?" Okay, maybe a little harsh, but Courtney-Jayne didn't have time for him to play nice when Tony was fooling around.

Seemingly ignoring Gibbs, or possibly not even hearing him, Tony continued to bounce around the bull pen, muttering a mile a minute. "What about if one or all of them let the cat out of the bag, but they didn't realise that they had? I mean, these are guys after all and they don't hang out chatting in the locker room or the car park. Guys hang out over drinks or a game of pool. They go and grab a burger or a pizza together and they have a few beers. They don't necessarily engage their brains when they open their mouths, and even if they do, how many times does anybody stop to think that the bartender or the waitress is bothering to listen to their conversation?"

Stopping in mid rant, Tony pulled out his cell phone. "Is that Ensign Reyne? Special Agent DiNozzo, and I'm wondering if I can ask a couple of questions?" His pacing took him out of Gibbs' earshot, but he could see the excited demeanour of his agent as he strode around the office before making a second call. Finally, hanging up and grinning from ear to ear he raced back to their desks. "Not the brightest bulb in the box, but like I thought, Stephenson told them all over a burger and onion rings at the diner near the Naval base. He couldn't remember who served them since it was a while ago, but Lieutenant Rhone gave me the waitress' name. He's the only one that's single and he and the waitress were flirting," He explained, anticipating Gibbs' inquiry about why he would remember the waitress that served them so long ago.

Gibbs nodded, thinking that made sense. Hoping that this would prove to be a real lead, he instructed Tony to follow it while he questioned Burns' girlfriend. McGee had rung to say they had Amphlett and would be back at the Yard in five. Gibbs was starting to get a faint flutter in his gut that usually heralded a break in a case.

000000

Thanksgiving 0600 hours:

Tony's lead had panned out. Stephenson and his not so bright Three Musketeers had yabbered away, forgetting that the waitress serving them had ears and a brain. She also had a low-paying job and poor job prospect, plus a dirtbag on again off again boyfriend who'd just dumped her again, and she saw a way to get him back. The pair had disappeared, telling friends that they were going on a long trip after coming into a lot of money. Not very smart, but then again there wasn't some test that prospective kidnappers could take to see if they were smart enough to pull it off, either.

Now, they were searching for Tiffany Smith and her partner, Lloyd Henty, and any connections that they had to properties, looking for anywhere they might be hiding Courtney-Jayne. So far, they hadn't managed to find them and they were preparing to make their way to the ransom drop off point, well most of the team. Gibbs was leaving their probationary agent Tim McGee to continue doing his computer thingy searching, and if they found the dirtbags, Gibbs had teed up the on-call team to be ready to storm any properties in DC or surrounding states to search for the six-year-old. Balboa would also supervise his probie until they got back. They were headed to New York for the drop off of the ransom since the kidnappers informed the Stephensons that the exchange of their daughter for the ransom money was going to take place during the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade.

When Cate and McGee had wondered aloud why they would pick the parade for the exchange, Tony had pointed out that it was a good place to pick up the money since it would be full of tourists, and that would make it more difficult for any law enforcement to set up surveillance or arrest them. He also explained that if the kidnappers had watched any of the hundreds of kidnapping movies or television shows, they would renege on swapping the money for the little girl. More than likely they would take the money and run, using the crowds to lose any cops. Gibbs was glad that his SFA was educating the juniors about the reality of the situation, since he was wound tighter than a drum and just wanted to kill someone, preferably the dirtbag kidnappers, but in their absence he'd settle for annoying junior agents asking damn fool questions that he could chew up and spit out.

They were waiting for Admiral Steele to arrive, as he'd offered to deliver the ransom for his daughter and son-in-law, which he'd somehow manage to raise (all but fifty thousand dollars anyway). And Gibbs wondered if Cate and Tim realised how close they came to being history, or at the very least, to having VBM - visible bite marks? Since Todd was so concerned about having a VPL, he assumed she at least wouldn't appreciate it overly much.

0000000

Outside Tony's apartment block: 0600 hours Thanksgiving morning

The LOLs, Carla, Rae and Lil were standing around on the sidewalk, along with most of the residents in their apartment block, apart from people who like Tony weren't at home. They were all waiting in the dark November dawn for the Emergency Services to come and deal with the gas leak in one of the apartments on the ground floor. Most people had still been asleep and the ladies, along with the other residents, were mostly dressed in sleepwear, and subsequently many were shivering in what was almost DC winter weather. Some of the neighbouring apartment block residents had rushed to their aid with blankets, hot chocolate, and coffee.

Lil was fretting, knowing that their plans for Thanksgiving dinner were in disarray. Once the gas was cut, it was unlikely that they would be able to get the gas leak repaired on a holiday and even if they did, it likely wouldn't be in time for them to prepare all the food that they had been going to cook later on. Once Tony had told them that he had to work, they'd decided to cook enough food and invite the rest of his team mates, too, since they didn't get to go home. Tony had been sending brief updates and was hopeful that they would find the little girl soon, so the LOLs had decided to proceed on the basis that they could take a couple of hours to eat dinner and shopped accordingly. Now they had a heap of food that needed to be cooked and no way to cook it.

Lil frowned, her furrowed countenance looking decidedly ill at ease as she put her mind to work to find a solution. "Perhaps we could just borrow a kitchen, girls." She asked, not finding it odd to refer to her friends thusly. She still felt quite girlish most of the time. "Anyone have any bright ideas?" She asked hopefully.

Rae nodded, thinking, "Perhaps I could ring Sister Rosita and ask if we could use the convent kitchen?" She smirked, "Maria used to love my Mom's black-eyed peas and pecan pumpkin pie when we were growing up, so she's corruptible." She chuckled at the thought of corrupting a convent full of nuns, crossing herself quickly to be on the safe side.

Lil smiled, too. "Or we could maybe ask Donald if we could borrow his kitchen at Reston House. I'm sure he'd agree."

Rae nodded, "Yes, he would, but do you think that Victoria would be alright with us being in her kitchen? She might find it rather stressful. Perhaps the convent would be better, even if the Mallard kitchen would have better equipment, I'm sure," She finished thoughtfully.

Carla, who had been quiet up until now, smiled triumphantly. "I know a kitchen that's not being used, Chicas." Seeing her friends' curious expressions, she revealed her plan. "Young Leroy has a kitchen that sits unused, has done for years since he lost his family. In fact, apart from his basement, the bathroom and his couch, the rest of the house might as well not exist. Honestly, the place is like a mausoleum, and I'm sure his daughter and wife would approve of it being put to good use," She finished determinedly.

She'd been working on Tony's boss to try to convince him to deal with his grief, but the former Marine was incredibly stubborn. In fact, Lil had expressed the opinion that perhaps Gibbs, without realising it, actually enjoyed the pain that came with unresolved grief since it was one way to avoid letting go. Alternatively, the retired social worker explained, it might an attempt at self-punishment if he felt that he was to blame for their death. Letting go would mean forgiving himself, and maybe that was why he couldn't let go of his grief.

Rae looked dubious at the thought of Thanksgiving Dinner at Gibbs' house. "Do ya think he'd let us, Carla. Got me the impression that he's not the most sociable of folks."

Carla nodded determinedly. "You leave that young whipper snapper to me. Do you think that Sister Rosita could help transport us and all the food to Alexandria, Rae?"

"I think so… especially if we invite her, too. She's a sucker for my Mom's pie." Rae said nostalgically.

Carla, in her Sergeant Major mode, nodded approvingly. "Plenty of food, Rae. So, as far as I'm concerned, the more the merrier. Hells bells, chica, tell her to bring a nun friend if she wants. And Lillian, you call Mr. Yost and tell him we'll swing by and pick him up, too. That'll save Tony having to drive out to collect him, and that way he's not alone all day," She thought out loud, marshalling her troops for the coming battle… ah, dinner.

So far, Gibbs was proving to be a recalcitrant foe, but you didn't make it to your ninth decade without learning to be ornery, too. Carla might not be able to force the damned fool to start active grieving, since that would mean he would have to let them go, but she could force him to be sociable for a few hours and actually force him to take part in a simple Thanksgiving Dinner where he could maybe see that he still had plenty to be thankful for.

Persuade, she chided herself sternly. Force had such negative connotations, especially since her intentions were nothing but honourable. Carla fancied if the first Mrs. Gibbs and her daughter could speak, that they would be cheering her on in her tough love approach to…persuade, cajole, entice that stubborn goat into living life in celebration of the time they'd been given together, even if it had been tragically short. It was, after all, better than many people ever got.

End notes

1. Climbed out of the cupboard was an intentional error in case you were in any doubt. Of course what Lil was referring to was coming out of the closet LOL.

2. VPL for anyone not in the know refers to visible pantie line under clothes.