Problems

The date and a fire

Washington DC
Restaurant
9:00 pm


A waiter leads Ellie and Nick to a table for two. Nick pulls back a chair and means for Ellie to sit down. After she sits down, he pulls the chair back. Only then does he sit opposite her in the other chair. "Thank you. That's really nice of you", says Ellie touched. Nick smiles. "Do you like it?" "Yes. It's beautiful", replies Ellie, also smiling. The waiter comes back and brings them the menus. They both look in and order.



Washington DC
Gibbs House
9:38 pm


Gibbs is sitting on his sofa, eating a steak. There's an old black-and-white movie on the TV. All of a sudden, a thought comes into his head. He gets up and goes to a cupboard. He opens the doors and takes out the box with his rules. He looks for rule 12. He takes it out and reads it through. He goes to his fireplace and looks again at the note with rule 12. He takes one deep breath, then he throws the note into the fire. Then he turns off the TV and goes down to the basement to work on his boat.

Washington DC
Restaurant
9:59 Pm


Ellie and Nick eat in silence. "How's your food?", Nick breaks the silence. "Really good. And yours?", asks Ellie. "It's good. Shall we do this more often?" "Sure. But only if the others don't find out. I don't want them talking about us." "Good thing we solved the case so quickly and Gibbs sent us home", says Nick. "Didn't you notice that he stayed? I think he was up to something he didn't want either of us to know", says Ellie with a smile. "Something with Sloane?", Nick asks. "What else? Maybe they've been together for ages and none of us noticed", thinks Ellie. 

Washington DC 
Gibbs' house, basement 
10:35 pm


Gibbs is building his boat when he hears footsteps coming down the stairs. He looks up and sees Jack. "Hey, Gibbs", Jack greets him anxiously. "Jack. What are you doing here?", Gibbs asks in surprise. "The door was open, so I went in. I was worried about you", Jack replies. "Worried?" "About earlier. Why did you ask me about your rules now?", Jack asks. When Gibbs doesn't answer and just shrugs, she asks: "What did you do now about your rules?" "Burned", Gibbs says. "Burned?", Jack asks incredulously. "Jesus, Jack. Do I have to repeat all this?", asks Gibbs annoyed. "Now, did you burn them all, or what does that mean?", Jack asks. "I don't know where you come up with all these rules. Only rule ten and rule twelve", Gibbs replies. "When?" "What's the point of asking?", Gibbs asks. Jack looks at him and Gibbs realizes that she will not leave until she gets a reasonable and above all correct answer from him. So he replies: "Rule ten was a long time ago." Jack just won't let go. "And rule 12?", she asks. "Earlier." "How are you doing with that?", Jack asks. "What?" "You've been living by your rules for years. It must be triggering something inside you. I mean, why did you burn your rules? It must upset your entire balance, your entire life ahead", Jack says anxiously. "Have you talked to Doctor Grace?", asks Gibbs. "No. Why do you ask?", Jack asks back in surprise. "Because she reacts exactly like you do", Gibbs replies.