Author's Note: This is only my second fan fic ever, and my first NCIS story. I know nothing about forensics, chemistry or the military, so please be kind if you decide to review. All constructive criticism is appreciated.

Summary: A case hits close to home for Tony who discovers a long-kept secret.

Disclaimer: This story is purely a figment of my imagination, albeit with borrowed characters. I promise to return them in good working order. I don't own anything and can't afford a lawyer, so please don't sue!

The police cruiser slowly made its way down the dark alley, its searchlights sweeping back and forth along the dingy warehouse walls and the trash strewn ground as the officers looked for anything out of the ordinary.

"Man, I hate working the graveyard shift in the warehouse district," the driver groused to his young partner.

"Tell me about it," his partner agreed. "This place is bad enough in the daytime." He checked the clock on the dashboard. 3 AM. "Only a few hours more," he said.

Just then, they heard the loud report of a dumpster lid slamming shut. The officers trained the searchlights a few yards ahead just in time to see two figures duck behind a stack of wooden pallets. The two police officers got out of the cruiser and headed towards the pallets. Each kept a hand on his holstered sidearm, ready to draw if necessary.

Their flashlights trained on the pallets, they identified themselves and ordered the two figures to come out. When they received no response, the elder of the two officers drew his service weapon and nodded to the younger man who drew his as well. Cautiously, the two officers rounded the stack of pallets. Instead of finding two people, though, they found an open window. They were about to investigate further when they heard a muffled scream from somewhere inside the warehouse.

The officers quickly made their way into the warehouse and followed the sound of the screams until they came upon a teenaged couple. The young man was holding the hysterical girl, trying to calm her when the officers' flashlights lit up his face and blinded him. Instinctively his hands flew up in the air.

"We didn't do it!" the boy shouted. "We just found him like that!"

The two officers shared a look. "You found who like what?" the senior officer asked.

The teenagers stepped aside and the boy pointed at the floor behind them. The officer shone his flashlight in the direction pointed and gasped as it illuminated the lifeless body on the cold warehouse floor.

Leroy Jethro Gibbs stood in the middle of his basement carefully shaping the hull of his latest boat. The smell of sawdust wafted through the air as the local Farm Bureau report blared from the small TV nearby. Pausing for a moment, he took a swallow of bourbon from his NIS coffee mug before grabbing the carpenter's plane to take another pass when the cell phone next to the TV started ringing. With a sigh he picked up the phone and glanced at the caller ID. DiNozzo. He set the hand tool down and flipped open the phone.

"Yeah," he barked.

"Ah… working on the boat again, eh, Boss?" his senior field agent's voice came through the receiver.

"What've you got, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked.

"Dead sailor in Manassas," Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo replied. "A couple of beat cops found him when they chased a couple teenagers into a warehouse."

"Call Ducky, Ziva and McGee and get over there with the van. I'll meet you there," Gibbs ordered.

Tony smiled. "They're already on their way in. See you there, Boss," he said and hung up the phone.

An hour later the NCIS evidence van pulled up to the warehouse on Industry Drive. Tony was surprised to see the M.E.'s van already parked outside. "Ducky must've let Palmer navigate and drive," he chuckled as Officer Ziva David and Special Agent Timothy McGee exited the opposite side of the vehicle.

Stifling a yawn, DiNozzo grabbed the two cups of coffee from the van's cup holders and made his way into the warehouse. He located his superior hunched over the body talking with the Medical Examiner and held out one of the coffees as he approached.

"You got here quick, Boss," DiNozzo remarked.

Gibbs took the proffered cup and began barking out orders to his team. "Ziva, photos and sketch. McGee, bag and tag." He paused to take a drink of coffee and stared at DiNozzo with raised eyebrows. "You waiting for an invitation, DiNozzo?" he asked coolly.

Tony hesitated. "Ah… well… I… uh, I'll go talk to the flatfeet and the kids; see what they know," he said and turning on his heels, walked over to the teenagers and the two police officers who had found the body.

Gibbs turned back to the M.E. "Do we have a time of death yet, Duck?" he asked.

Dr. Donald Mallard deftly removed the liver probe from his patient and studied it for a moment. "Judging by the core temperature, I'd have to say no more than 24-36 hours, Jethro," he replied in his crisp British accent.

"How about a cause of death," Gibbs asked.

"Well, I won't know for certain until I get him home, but at first glance, I'd say blunt force trauma. He was beaten to death. Notice the bruising on the face and upper torso," he said as he pointed at the body. "Of course, anything is possible. I remember a time in Guinea where a young man appeared to have been beaten to death…"

Gibbs rolled his eyes slightly and stood up. "Let me know when you have something, Duck," he said as he walked over to where DiNozzo was interviewing the teenagers. They both appeared young, maybe around fifteen, though the streets had hardened them to some degree. Still, finding the corpse had clearly unnerved the two. The girl had calmed down, but was still shaking.

Seeing Gibbs approaching, DiNozzo wrapped up the interview, handing each of them a business card and asking them to call, collect, at any time should they remember any other details.

"Hey, Boss," he said. "The kids both swear they don't know anything. Said they just hid in here to get away from the cops. They're both runaways – homeless and living on the streets. They met up a few weeks ago and have been hanging together since. They literally stumbled over the body trying to find a place to hide."

Gibbs glanced over at the police officers. "What about them?" he asked.

"Officers Johnson and Peete, Manassas PD, were on a routine patrol down the alley when they spotted the two kids. They were outside the building when the girl started screaming. They called for backup and secured the scene when they found the body. Of course, they rummaged through the vic's pockets to find his ID first." He looked down at his notebook. "Petty Officer Chad Benson. As soon as they found out he was Navy, they called us," DiNozzo reported.

Gibbs scowled. He hated when local LEOs compromised his crime scenes. Shaking his head he told DiNozzo to arrange to have the teenagers taken to NCIS headquarters for further questioning.

"You really think they're hiding something, Gibbs?" DiNozzo asked softly.

Gibbs just looked at him. Then, glancing over at the two kids, he added the order to make sure they got something to eat as well. With a slight smile and an understanding nod, Tony waved the two teens back as he dialed NCIS headquarters to request the transport.

With all the trace evidence and the body collected, the team returned to headquarters. By now it was nearly eight o'clock and their investigation was just getting started. Tony had escorted the teenagers back to D.C., stopping for breakfast along the way, of course. After depositing his two charges in separate interrogation rooms, he returned to the bullpen, passing McGee's desk just as the junior agent's stomach gave a rather loud growl.

"Hungry, Probie?" Tony asked, a satisfied grin spreading across his face.

"Yeah, as a matter of fact," McGee retorted. "While you were out stuffing your face, Ziva and I have actually been working!" He didn't even try to hide his irritation.

"Hey, don't blame me, Probie!" Tony responded innocently. "I was only following Gibbs' orders."

"You could have brought something back for the rest of us!" Ziva chimed in angrily, not looking up from her terminal. "Typical. Only thinking of yourself!" she added.

"Really. What to you call this?" Tony asked, lifting the bags he was carrying and setting them on his desk. He took out a couple of Styrofoam containers and put one on Gibbs' desk and handed the other to McGee who practically tore the container apart opening it. Looking around for some utensils, McGee looked up just in time to catch the small plastic wrapped set Tony had just tossed him.

Ziva moved around her desk and took the container Tony now held out for her. "I take that back," she said. "Thank you, Tony," she nodded as she stepped back to her desk.

Tony had just finished passing out the coffee when Gibbs returned to the bullpen. He glared at McGee as the young agent stuffed an entire sausage into his mouth. "I'm so hungry I could…" McGee's voice trailed off as he noticed Gibbs staring at him. He chewed quickly.

"Sorry, Boss," he said swallowing hard, feeling the heat rising up his neck and engulfing his cheeks and ears.

"You finished with the background on Petty Officer Benson?" Gibbs growled.

"Well, ah… I can tell you that he worked in ordnance stationed at Norfolk. His CO, Lt. Commander Louis Johnson, said Benson was on leave until this morning. He hadn't even realized Petty Officer Benson was missing until I called him. He said Benson was an exemplary sailor; he had received several commendations since coming to Norfolk."

Gibbs continued to stare at him. "Is that it, McGee?" he asked quietly.

"Well…ah…" McGee stammered. "I was just about to…ah…" he sighed. "On it, Boss," he replied and shoved the styrofoam container aside to concentrate on the background trace.

Gibbs turned to Ziva who stood and grabbed the remote for the plasma monitor. "According to both Abby and Ducky, there wasn't enough blood in the warehouse for our petty officer to have been killed there. We found very little blood evidence at the scene and nothing to indicate any sort of disturbance there." She paused as she switched to a picture of the alleyway.

"Likewise, there was no blood found outside the warehouse or in the alley," she continued.

"So, our victim was killed somewhere else and dumped at the warehouse," Gibbs finished the thought. "Have you found out who owns the warehouse, yet?" he asked.

McGee opened his mouth to answer, but Tony beat him to the punch.

"The warehouse belongs to KFS, a food service company based in West Virginia, though it's been abandoned for the last several months. The company was recently bought out by a conglomerate and they're restructuring. Word is the warehouse is up for sale or lease," he said.

Ziva and McGee just stared at him.

"How did you learn all of that while you were escorting those two teenagers back here and eating breakfast?" Ziva asked with a note of incredulity.

Tony smiled, "I haff my vays, Zee-vah!" he chuckled. Then he turned back to Gibbs. "The runaways have been fed and are waiting for you in interrogation rooms one and two."

Gibbs nodded just as his cell phone rang. He flipped it open and put it to his ear. Without a word, he snapped the phone shut and strode in the direction of the elevator. "Abby's got something," he informed his team. The three agents hurried to follow him into the elevator.

Forensic Specialist Abby Sciuto spun around on her stool to face the four field agents as they entered the lab. Taking the straw of her Caf-Pow! out of her mouth, she greeted the lead agent enthusiastically.

"Gibbs!" she grinned at him. "You'll never guess how our Petty Officer died."

"What've you got, Abs?" Gibbs asked softly.

"Okay. You're probably thinking the vic was beaten to death, right?" she asked. "'Cuz that's what Ducky and I thought at first, too. But we were wrong!" she looked at Gibbs again. "Want to know how he died?" she asked, bouncing slightly on the stool.

"How many of those things have you had today?" Gibbs asked, pointing to the huge cup of carbonated caffeine on her desk.

"It's only my third, Gibbs!" she whined. "Don't you want to know how Petty Officer Benson died?" she asked again.

Gibbs just looked at her and raised his eyebrows.

"I ran a tox screen at Ducky's request," she turned to her computer and started typing. Soon a graph showing the various chemicals found in the victim's blood came up on the monitor. Abby hit a button and the graph filled the large plasma screen on the wall. Grabbing the mouse, Abby pointed to the various chemicals in turn noting that most were perfectly normal until she reached the last one which was shown to be in a much higher concentration than the others.

"What's that last one?" Tony asked.

"Sodium Hypochlorite," Abby answered.

McGee turned toward her, surprised. "Bleach?"

"Bleach," Abby replied.

"Our Petty Officer was murdered," Gibbs muttered.

That's it for chapter 1. Please let me know what you think!