𝐍𝐎 𝐑𝐔𝐋𝐄𝐒 ━━ 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐳𝐳𝐨

TWO | kiss you

"Thank you for coffee this morning."

"Well, you don't need to thank me, now, do you?"

Luck Be A Lady blasts through the earphones of his MP3 — a gift from Abby to all of us — as he rocks me side to side, similar to a moment two short months ago.

"This is nice." I hum to myself inaudibly. "No pressure to move fast. . .no pressure to have sex."

"You still haven't kissed me." He points out.

My eyes roll at his childish impatience. "And I will. When I feel ready, I will kiss you."

The elevator doors slide open, and he and I release each other. The others are already in the bullpen when Gibbs shouts.

"Dead Marine, Fort Belvoir Army Base. Let's go."

Lieutenant Colonel Mann meets with Gibbs on the front porch of the house while the rest of us gather the equipment.

"Marine Captain Trent Reynolds, worked for the Defense Intelligence Agency on an interagency task force. His wife found him last night when she got back from a convention in Charlottesville."

"Where is she now?"

"Mother's house."

McGee clears his throat. "How long has he been, uh, stuck here?"

"Only the dead know the true meaning of patience, Timothy." Ducky stands by the doorway. "No more places to go, people to see. Except me, of course."

Ziva and I step back next to Tony to give Ducky some space to work.

"So. . .to whom do I report?"

"Her. Me."

The two answer simultaneously.

"Better get used to that." Tony snickers under his breath, causing Mann to tilt her head in question. "Uh, spearguns. Pretty cool. Thunderball. Very James Bond, boss — ma'am. . .Colonel."

"Captain Reynolds was a recreational diver."

"Pretty cool."

"You already said that."

"I'm trying not to get my ass handed to me by the woman, alright?"

Unlike typical cases, Lieutenant Colonel Mann assigns our tasks for the next hour or so: Tony with the witness statements, McGee with searching for prints, Ziva with the captain's phone records, and I with the bank documents.

A few prints left behind on the back door belong to Major Sweigart, who was Captain Reynolds' superior at the D.I.A..

But they find out one of Gibbs' ex-wives was with the captain's wife when they discovered the body, wife number three to be exact.

"Who do you think is prettier: ex-wife number three or future ex-wife number four?"

Tony nods towards the interrogation room, where Stephanie Flynn sits in the chair and Lieutenant Colonel Mann questions her.

"Don't make me answer."

"Does the uniform put Mann at a disadvantage?"

"Well, it's Gibbs we're talking about, so. . .that could be taken as an advantage."

"If you're going to have me interrogated, Jethro, at least do it yourself. Come on." Flynn presses her hands against the window. "You never could talk to me, could you? Well, that was then, this is now, so just. . .get the hell in here!"

My eyes widen at her outburst. "Isn't she just a. . .female version of Gibbs?"

"What was that, Eva?"

A reflection of Gibbs standing behind us appears on the window, which causes me and Tony to run out of the backroom.