emerald_green37 | Catalyst 8/? (Reply)

Gibbs woke well before daylight, enjoying the absolute peacefulness – until he heard the futon squeak and then Ziva started snoring. Laughing softly to himself, he ambled into the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. Cup in hand he went out onto the front porch. He'd snickered to himself the day before when McGee gave Tony the task of dragging out the chairs and table for the porch, but he enjoyed sitting out there, waiting for the sun to come up.

The door opened and McGee slipped out, dressed like Gibbs in sweats and heavy socks, his own cup of coffee in his hand. The two men were silent for a few minutes before McGee pointed out a squirrel in a nearby tree.

"That's Norman, Stormin' Norman. If you get too close to him, he'll throw acorns at you."

"Stormin' Norman?" The eyebrow went up as he studied the fat squirrel who was watching them. "Good to know." The squirrel chattered at them before scurrying further up the tree.

"Yeah, well, wait until you hear him run across this metal porch roof." Tim continued on, pointing out a ridge past the other side of the house. "There's a family of deer that come down that path about ten minutes after sunrise. I have a really good view from my bedroom."

Both men quieted, staring at each other. The mood was broken when Tony came out, stomping his feet and rubbing his hands. "Man, I slept good. I can't believe how quiet it is out here."

Gibbs glared at him. "It was."

"Oops, sorry."

"Shh." McGee tugged him down onto one of the chairs and pointed out the ridge once again. "Watch."

From that angle they didn't have the best view, but in between the scrub brush several deer could be seen passing through. Being a city boy, Tony was surprised. "Wow, I can't believe they'd come that close."

"Every morning, regular as clockwork." Tim stood and went back into the house, coming out a few seconds later with the pot of coffee and an extra mug for Tony. When they finished their coffee and went inside, Ziva was just closing the bathroom door. A few seconds later there was a muffles shriek and the door flew back open. The three men immediately ran down the hall, much to her embarrassment.

"There was a spider."

"A spider?" Tony grinned back at Gibbs and McGee. "Our ninja is scared of a little spider? Made her scream like a little girl?"

"It was not little, and I did not scream like a little..." She turned to see them grinning at her. "Shut up, Tony."

Still laughing, Tony stepped past her. "Fine, I'll kill the spider that's too big and bad for our Mossad assassin." He walked into the bathroom, let out a yelp and made it back out into the hallway in one leap. "That's not a damn spider, it's a tarantula."

Ziva looked puzzled. "Is a tarantula not a type of spider?"

Rolling his eyes, McGee pushed past both of them and stepped into the bathroom. "Charlie, what are you doing in here?"

Out in the hallway, Tony and Ziva looked at each other.

"Charlie?"

Gibbs stood with his hands on his hips. "McGee, is there any creature around here you haven't named?"

McGee came out of the bathroom, the large spider sitting on the palm of his right hand while he petted it with a finger of his left hand. There was some shuffling around and Ziva was behind Tony who was tucked behind Gibbs. Tim smirked at the two of them and made even more of a show of petting the creature, keeping his hand protectively over it as he moved.

"Charlie belongs to the neighbor's kid, but his sister is so scared of him that he has to be put out in the shed when she's visiting."

"Sister?"

Tim knew that would get DiNozzo's attention. "She's a runway model in New York. I'll just take Charlie home."

It was no surprise to anyone when Tony decided to tag along to 'help' McGee return Charlie, nor were they surprised when Tony didn't walk too terribly close to McGee as they walked to the neighbor's house. However, it was only McGee and Gibbs that realized he was walking directly under Norman's tree.

"Ow! What the..."

"Hi, Norman."

---NCIS---

By the time Charlie had been returned, the computer had finished repairing the files. McGee sat down and started working while Tony sat at the kitchen counter, still rubbing his head. Ziva laughed as she made pancakes.

"Was she worth it?"

"Man, it's amazing what make-up can fix."

---NCIS---

"Boss, I might have found something."

Gibbs and the local sheriff had been reviewing the few leads they had and both men moved to lean over Tim's shoulder. "What ya' got, McGee?"

"Lieutenant Carter was obsessive about keeping track of his activities. I was able to reconstruct his computer's day planner. He detoured here to Milford to meet a woman."

"A woman? Got a name for me?"

"Not yet. His day planner just has a heart instead of a name. I cross-referenced all the emails he had downloaded, but nothing jumps out yet. He also had several on-line email accounts that don't download into his computer – I'm still working on getting into those. Whoever she is, it looks like he met up with her the morning he disappeared." There was a map of downtown Milford that Gibbs and Sheriff Whitehorse had been using, laying on the table and McGee tapped a small park in the center of town. "Northwest corner, 0900. If they were meeting in public, it's possible they didn't know each other."

"An online hook-up? Great."

Whitehorse put on a pair of wire rimmed glasses to read the notation Tim had found in the computer files. "Back when I was in the Corps we picked up our women the old fashioned way – in a bar. Course, they usually ended up a heck of a lot uglier in the morning."

Tony was still thinking about his tarantula transport trip that morning. "Ain't that the truth."

Snickering, the sheriff straightened up. "Coffee shop's across the street. If your man's any kind of Marine, he probably stopped for a cup. We'll see if they remember anything."

Gibbs nodded, clipping his holster to his belt as he talked. "McGee stay here, update the Director and work on getting me a name and hopefully something a little more real than HotJugs24."

"On it, Boss." Already immersed in his work, he barely noticed when the three agents and the sheriff left the house.