Author's Note: It's been a really long time since I gave a personal shout out to 'my peeps' So thank you dg101, bored411, hippiechick2112, valy72 (which was my first review in another language. So exciting!), and SashaElizabeth (a big shout out to you for reviewing every single one of my chapter in a single sitting. Love you so much). Thank you all for taking the time to review. And also to the countless people who have fav-ed/alerted the story through the years. It truly melts my heart with every single rev/fav/alert. Thank you so much!

On to the business. This is a very lengthy chapter with a lot of goodies, so pay close attention. Things are revealed. Trusts are re-evaluated. And plot twists like none before...Enjoy.

~:.:~

Gibbs lowered his gun as he watched Carmen drive away. He stood immobilize with an immense, yet calm sadness that enabled him to react or to think clearly. He had just let Carmen get away. He couldn't believe he had just let her go—escape—with the possible scenario of never seeing her again. Why did that thought sadden him? Why was he not billowing with anger or bursting with rage? Why was he so afflicted—his gut render defective and utterly useless in all aspects that concerned her.

A calm serenity overtook him as he continued to stare at the last visible spot Carmen had occupied, but it was broken as shouts from beyond his thoughts interrupted him, and he turned he find Tony, Ziva, and McGee running up to him, weapons drawn.

"Gibbs what's happened?" It was Ziva to speak first after a few moments of being too stunned to see their boss in such a trance state. "Where's Carmen?"

"Gone."

The threesomes' brows all furrowed together in confusion as Gibbs left it at that, and turned on his heels and walked away. They all exchanged odd glances before following after him.

~:.:~

Gibbs stepped off the elevator, and made his way into the bull pen, where apparently Abby and Fornell were waiting for him.

"Gibbs," sang Abby as he rounded his desk and sat down. "Have you seen Ducky? He had samples he needed me to test, but when I went down, you know, there—" Abby began to fidget about the word 'coroner'. "Ducky wasn't there and his office was locked."

Gibbs sighed, realizing he was going to have to speak the truth sooner or later, although he preferred it be later. But he shifted his eyes to McGee, who had just sat down at his desk.

"McGee bring up the surveillance cameras from the parking garage. The one pointed at the entrance and exit."

"Okay," he said, his voice a mixture of confusion and curiosity. His fingers rapped quickly on the keyboard and within a few moments he was directing everyone's attention to the monitor.

"Gibbs what does this have to do with Ducky?" Abbey asked eying the unusually behaved Gibbs. When he didn't answer, her eyes shifted to Ziva and Tony, of who had that same knowing and bewildered look on their faces, too. Apparently they were aware of their bosses' strange behavior too, but didn't know why.

"Rewind the feed to about—" he looked down at his watch. "Fifteen minutes ago."

"Alright."

The TV monitor appeared in a snowing haze as it rewound—and then Ducky's vintage car came to appeared on the monitor. "Stop there, McGee—alright pause it."

McGee paused it, and four sets of eyes fell on Gibbs, all wondering what was going on.

"Ziva you asked where Carmen is—and Abby, you asked where Ducky is . . . McGee."

McGee tapped his space bar and everyone turned to the monitor, watching with interest as Ducky appeared from his car and walked around it to only disappear out of the right side of the screen, then reappear again, but with an orange blab besides him.

Abbey, along with the rest gasped as they realized it was Carmen, with a gun tucked in her waist band, forcing Ducky to help her into his car. Then they watched horrified as she suddenly wrapped her arm his throat and neck, and used the bud of her gun against his head.

Abbey gasped again, her hands clasping over her mouth in disbelief.

They watched as Carmen aimed her gun at something or someone off screen for a moment, then saw Gibbs appeared in the corner the screen, his gun drawn and raised at Carmen. It was a silent recording, and could not understand what they were saying until suddenly—and sound was not needed to understand Carmen's actions next:

Carmen smiled wickedly and lower her gun. Ducky fell in his knees, red beginning to seep through his slacks and down his legs.

Upon seeing this, Abbey gasped and turned around in the awaiting arms of Gibbs, of who wrapped them around her tightly to shield and protect her from the awful sight of Ducky getting shot. But although he held her, his eyes never left the screen as Carmen lowered her gun and disappeared into the car, and drove away—awhile he watched himself stand there—frozen and unable to move or think.

McGee cut the feed, and now all eyes were on Gibbs again, all with one thing on their mind.

"You let her get away?" It was Tony; his voice quiet and sad—but not a sadness for Carmen's escape, but for Gibbs' inability of action. Something Tony had never seen before and seriously contemplated the force behind it. Why did he let her go?

Again, Gibbs didn't answer, but held tighter the now sobbing and incoherent woman in his arms. "She shot him, Gibbs. She—she shot Ducky—how could she!?"

Gibbs shifted his eyes to Fornell, who was staring at the floor vacantly—sadly as if his last chance to find his daughter had vanished.

Everyone in the bullpen remained silent—unable to move passed the horrible image of Ducky being shot.

"If that not prove enough for you, Ziva, then I don't know what is!?"

Tony abruptly stood, his chair knocking back into the filing cabinet behind him, and grabbed his jacket and pack and left the bull pen with haste—with anger and with guilt.

Ziva lowered her head in her hands as tears quietly came to her eyes, and after a few moments, she stood too, angry and guilty and fled the bull pen.

After a few minutes, Gibbs motioned for McGee to come over to Abby and coax her back down to lab. It left Gibbs and Fornell alone in the bull pen. They continued to remain silent until Fornell stood in front of Gibbs desk.

Fornell stared down at his friend.

"What is your gut telling you?"

". . . I don't know."

~:.:~

Carmen awoke the next morning to find Ducky missing from the other bed. An immediate surge of panic propelled her from beneath the covers, frantically kicking them away as she jumped from the bed and across the room to grab the black duffel bag of essentials she had brought with. She began stuffing her things back into the bag, and was gliding across the room to the door in a matter of seconds. She wretched open to the door to flee, but stopped upon meeting a confused and shocked Ducky standing with the key frozen in the air.

"Ducky!?" she breathed out hoarsely. "I thought—"

"I had fled?" he said with the slightest hint of disappointment in his voice. When Carmen lowered her head and nodded, Ducky sighed and glided passed her in the door way. "I bought some us breakfast from the little cafe diner around the corner. I hope you like your eggs scrambled."

Carmen remained standing by the door, an anchor of a heavy heart keeping her immobile.

"Ducky," she breathed quietly, an obvious guilt in her voice. "I'm so sorry."

"My dear I thought we had trust!?" he snapped quickly.

"We do—it's just I thought—"

"I had escaped and was going to authorities to turn you over!? . . . Am I correct to assume that much?" He waited for her nod before he continued. "And then what would you done? Flee? To where, my dear, were you exactly planning on going?"

Carmen brows furrowed in together in confusion and then defensively as the older man narrowed his eyes on her.

"You can't possible blame me for naturally reacting in an unnatural circumstance."

"No I should think trust should override any kind of irrationally thinking."

"Ducky—"

"Carmen—no, you're going to listen to me," he said over her persistent babbling. He sighed exhaustively, and tossed the two styrofoam containers of food onto the little dinning room table in the corner. He gripped his cane firmly in his hand, and limped to his side of the bed, and sat down, nonchalantly waving her over to sit on the bed opposite of him.

Her bottom lip distinctively curled in her mouth, and Carmen bit down upon hearing his detest of disappointment in her—her soon-to-come detest of disappointment. She watched him relax into the bed, his weight relieved from his injured leg. And Carmen's guilt was em-flamed all over again as he groaned with a mixture of pain and relief, but swallowed her guilt, and complied to his demand. Carmen sat across from him, and waited like a little girl who got caught with her hand in a jar—it was degrading.

"If your first instinct of finding me gone was to flee because you thought I was going to police—that means you do not hold the same trust in me that I hold for you. Which makes me very sad and disappointed. After everything I have done—I don''t know what else I can do to prove my loyalty—"

"You needn't do anymore Ducky." Carmen let her words settle in the air before continuing. "I am sorry—truly sorry I reacted in that way—but you must at least consider it from my perspective Ducky. . . . Now whatever you may think now, know I have the most immense tenderness towards you. I'd rather go to prison than betrayal your trust—melodramatic and cliche, yes, but I think you see my point. . . . Ducky I reacted in that way because I didn't now how else to react. I have been running my entire life—it's just code inbreed in my brain now. It's just natural for me. And I am truly sorry for having deceived you in that manner. . . . Can you forgive me, Ducky?"

Carmen's hope of forgiveness diminished slightly more and more as the older man's face remained still, his eyes staring at her without expression, like he was giving her words a repeat in his mind—but then he chuckled with a little impish smirk with a glint in his eye that made Carmen aware of his intention of his own deceit.

"I think we've found her," was all he relayed, and made his back to the food on the dinning table. He had just witnessed Carmen's raw and unguarded true self.

Carmen didn't initially understand his comment, but after a few moments of thinking back on yesterday's conversations, his comment stuck understatement. And after a few moments to think about it, Carmen joined him at the table and eat the breakfast he bought from the diner.

After they were finish eating, Carmen excused herself to take a quick shower before they continued their discussion they had left last night. She stepped underneath the spray of warm water and all was forgotten as she let her mind close.

After a short while, Carmen appeared from the bathroom to find Ducky leaning against the headboard and watching a show on the television. He flipped it off as soon as he saw her enter into the room, her hair wet and shiny.

"Now that you must feel refreshed—shall we continue our discussion?"

Carmen sadly nodded, and sat cross-legged on her bed. "Where shall I start?"

After several moments, Ducky's grave face peered up at Carmen. "What arrangement had you made for Gibbs?"

Carmen predicted this would be the first topic of discussion, especially remembering the look on Ducky's face yesterday evening when they decided to 'call it quits' for the night; he appeared eager to learn of the truth, then disappointed to end close the discussion. And Carmen knew he would ask about Gibbs, but in truth Carmen had no desire to 'go down that path' but the face of Ducky forced the words out of her mouth.

Carmen sighed, and said, "Everything I have done—and have said has been calculated and quantified. Every conversation, every miniscule interaction, every fr—"

"Friendship? has been calculated, has it?" Ducky interrupted, his brows raised and his voice humorous and airy; the benefit to further humiliate Carmen about the intention of her relationship with him. After letting the conversation stiffen enough, he finally smiled, and let her continue.

"I was going to say fraternization, but I suppose friendship is all the same. . . . Anyways," she continued, and inhaled deeply. "Everything I have done as been to serve a particular purpose."

"And what was Gibbs' part in your grand scheme of things?"

Carmen sighed again, knowing this was going to be difficult to answer his question with a direct response. "Gibbs . . . was my queen on the battlefield."

"Hmm, a chess analogy? I hear," he sang, becoming slightly enthused.

"He was essential my most important and powerful-est piece in the game. He had the ability to move in any direction with no limit and was only bound to himself."

"Yes, and I recall you referring to Tony as a pond," he quickly added. "Don't let me forget to ask about that. . . . But do continue on."

Carmen smiled sadly, but continued. "I knew, just after meeting him—after seeing that passionately enraged man that he'd be the one to make this all happen for me. That he'd be the one able to open the door of salvation for me. . . . And so I used his weakness—his enraged passion to my advantage and made him the vocal point of my strategy."

"And what did that entail for him exactly?" asked Ducky after watching Carmen cast her eyes away from his, shame and guilt written across her entire face.

"Do you recall the item I requested from Gibbs?" she began, her voice quiet and small. Ducky recognized her deflection away from his question with another question. "The Russian dictionary?"

"Yes I remember."

"As the intelligent man you are, you're probably already aware of the correct theory as to why I need to."

Ducky chuckled lightly, "Yes, I believe I am. Although the others believe it's owner was the Russian terrorist, however, . . . I was not so quick to that conclusion. . . . It belonged to your mother, didn't it?" Ducky waited for Carmen to nod before pressing on. "But what does that have to do with Gibbs and your arrangement for him?"

"Everything, Ducky," she said, finally meeting his gaze once again. "Gibbs was the only person who could get that book for me. . . . But I knew he wouldn't be able to get that book if he just asked for it. No, I knew under normal circumstances they weren't just going to hand over the book to him."

"Whose they? and what do you mean 'under normal circumstances' " Ducky asked leaning slightly forward, his curiosity heightened by this new and unknown opponent.

"I discovered the dictionary to be locked away in a secret archive underneath the Homeland Security Headquarters. . . . Extreme measures and precautions were taken to ensure that book's secrecy . . . and I knew only under extreme circumstances was I ever going to see that book. . . . So that's were Gibbs comes in."

"So Gibbs was your queen—your piece to control? How did you manage that? Thinking back, I don't ever recall you ever having any of the slightest control over him—but rather the opposite, I remember. You were under his thumb."

Carmen smiled sadly again at his words—the truth in them sorely real. "Are you sure about that Ducky?—appearances can sometimes be misleading."

"Why are you so guilt-stricken?" he interjected instead. "As we speak, your plan is still in the works—they are trying to locate the dictionary for you. Doesn't that make you happy?"

Carmen forced a smile on her lip, and said, "It should, shouldn't it? . . . "

Ducky frowned, his head titling to the side slightly. "You're growing weary and anxious as you near your lifetime aspiration, aren't you?"

"Yes, Ducky I am," she stated dryly. "Once I get my hands on that dictionary I'll be able to find him and finally end this nightmare. . . ."

"You've never spoken about what you plan on doing once you've confronted him."

Carmen sighed, and shook her head, her voice becoming heated. "I don't now, I don't want to talk about that right now."

"Alright, alright," he said putting his hands in the air, a gesture of surrender. "We don't have to talk about it now, but if not now? When? You are going to have to know—because that time is going to arrive, my dear and you're going to have to know."

"Okay," Ducky continued. "Back to my original inquire. . . . How have you being controlling Gibbs? It seemed rather the opposite way from my perspective."

"Which is exactly the way I wanted it—under Gibbs' radar and undetectable. . . . I needed his fury, not his submission. I needed him angry, not his sympathy. I needed him, . . . essentially so enraged, so utterly engorged in his own madness that he would blind himself from reality—from rational thinking. . . . Which I believe I officially accomplished in the interrogation room when he nearly heaved me across the room. . . ." Carmen sighed again. "So passionate he'd comply to any request I made of him."

Ducky's mind ignited a whole chain of thinking—processing the words of her explanation. It was all coming to gather, except one thing was nagging at him.

"But he didn't become that angry at you over night . . . What did you do to him—" Ducky's eyes grew wide at his sudden realization. His mind traveled to when Carmen first arrived at NCIS and her upset with Tony and Gibbs. . . . She purposely pitied the two men against each other igniting her spark of Gibbs madness, he thought as his eyes meet Carmen's again.

"You really, truly have been planning this from the very beginning, haven't you? And Tony was also part of your game—your pond as you referred to it."

Carmen sadly nodded.

"I immediately knew what made Gibbs tick—his family. This dysfunctional family of NCIS. . . . I knew that's where I'd make the biggest splash and knew I could inflict the most damage."

"You pitied the two men against each." Ducky remarked, suddenly unable to meet her eyes anymore. "You destroyed their relationship for your—"

"Yes, my own gains! And I am truly sorry for that." She retorted heatedly, then inhaled slowly, calming herself. She felt extremely guilty for what she has done, but she had to forward with her plan.

"The only way to get Gibbs angry enough was to involve Tony—and get him just as angry. And yes! I had to pit them against each other. And yes! at the expense of their relationship. . . . And rule number twelve was going to take me where I needed to go:

Gibbs looked between Tony and Carmen for a while, before saying, "I'm sorry did I miss something? . . . Is there something going on between you two?" He said, his anger being directed completely toward Carmen.

"What? No! Of course!"

"Oh come on sweetie," Tony said.

Carmen's mouth dropped. "What?"

"Carmen, we can't keep lying!"

"Lying about what!" Gibbs said, his voice raising.

"Gibbs—" Carmen pleaded.

"If there is something going on," Gibbs interrupted, staring intensely at Carmen. "Then I need to know about!"

Carmen stopped and looked to Gibbs. Why was he so mad at me and not Tony?

"Gibbs, I—there—"

"Carmen," Tony said standing up and walking over to her. He wrapped an arm around her waist. He leaned in, close to her ear, so only she could hear. "Pay back is a bitch."

"Carmen and I are in a relationship, aren't we sweetie?" Tony said informing Gibbs.

Carmen stopped and gave Tony a bad look. He only smirked.

. . . .

Gibbs punched the button inside the elevator once Tony had managed to crawl himself onto it. The elevator came to sudden halt in the middle of the shaft, bringing the emergency lights on, and the room into silence. Gibbs leaned against the safety bar, tolerably waiting for Tony to regain his compose.

"Tony," Gibbs asked softly. "What is rule number twelve?"

"Never date a coworker," Tony answered obediently

"And are you doing just that? breaking my rules?"

"I wouldn't say breaking," Tony pleaded. " . . . more like bending . . . " Gibbs didn't want to play games anymore.

"Tony," Gibbs said obviously fighting himself from choking the answer out of him. "Are you in a relationship with Carmen Wilson?"

"Relationship is a funny word," Tony laughed awkwardly. "more like . . . " Tony couldn't think of a word to describe what was between him and Carmen. "Rivalry."

"DiNozzo answer my question! Are you in a relationship with Carmen Wilson?"

"Why does it matter!" he shot back. Gibbs took a step back at Tony's sudden out burst. "It doesn't matter. If it's love it's love. Who are you to tell who I can and can't date." By this time Gibbs was standing on the other side of the elevator. "You were with Jenny, . . . a coworker—your partner. You loved her, we all knew it."

Gibbs features soften and he thought carefully about his next words. "Your right about one thing, DiNozzo. I was in love with Jenny, but I knew we could never be together because I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if anything ever happened. But who am I," he mocked. "To tell a grown man who he can and can't love. A coworker none-the-less." He paused and sadly looked at Tony. "But when the time comes to make that decision who to protect and not protect; it will tear at you everyday of your life. And it will never let you forget it. If Carmen and you are in love . . . let it be. It's your choice."

Tony watched Gibbs stare at the floor, disappointed? Guilty? Ashamed? Tony watched Gibbs hit the button and walk off the elevator without saying another word. Gibbs was only trying to watch his back and Tony betrayed him. And for what? To get back at Carmen, Ziva, and Abby? It wasn't worth Gibbs' guidance, his friendship.

. . .

"I am still not convinced Carmen is behind this," Ziva said to no one specific.

"What more proof do you need? It is no coincidence that she had requested to transfer to NCIS the day of the first killing. And then, show up the day, we chased down the guy."

"That is not enough to convince me or a jury, Tony. Why are you so determined to see her executed?"

Tony clenched down on his jaw.

"Its personal, isn't it. . . . You never got over that blackmail thing, didn't you."

"She ruined my relationship with Gibbs."

"And how, exactly did she do that?"

"I don't have to explain myself to you."

"No, but you will have to, to Gibbs."

. . .

"I am truly sorry for what I created between them, . . . but their relationship will mend eventually."

"You can only hope," chided Ducky, then sighed. "I still can't believe that all was . . . calculated. . . . Everything?"

"Everything," she assured him. "Abbey's sleepover, Gibb's relapse in trust for me, Tony's betrayal . . . well actually the whole black mail thing wasn't apart of my plan, but it worked for me and even better than I hoped for. And then Tony's and Gibbs' falling-out. . . .I had everything down to a T."

"All that work to just to get Gibb's mad!?"

"No, not just mad. . . . Mad is something you can get over—forgive easily. No I needed his anger skin deep—in the heart if he was going to be useful to me. . . . And over time, over the months I've been here, it's been building up, just waiting to explode . . . and I think we witnessed that in the interrogation room. A little out-of-character for our Gibbs to loose his temper like that, huh?"

If the tone set in the room wasn't so tense, Ducky might have agreed and had a good chuckle, but the unnerving news about Gibbs' and Tony's relationship was the direct result of Carmen's doing was a little upsetting.

"I studied that man," she continued. "Learned that love and hate resided on either side of a very thin line. I used his jealous, which turned into guilt, which turned into love—or as you referred to it he 'confused guilt and the yearn for forgiveness as love' . . . and although he was plagued with uncertainty about me . . . he still let me go. . . . And I saw something in Gibbs' eye—in the moment he lowered his weapon and let me escape—something that told me he believed me, and with or without me was going to retrieve that dictionary. He too, knows the reasons why I desire that book. He wants that Russian just as much as I do."

Ducky exhaled a deep span of air, letting his breathe lingering in the air before pressing forward. "There are still holes in your explanations I can't quite make sense of. . . . You were willingly to take the blame for all those murders? . . . for revenge? And what of McGee? He was shoot with a red bullet. And Ziva, her throat slashed? was that you and for your purpose?"

"Contrary to what I said, I was not the one to inflict harm upon McGee or Ziva. It was the Russian who did it. Remember the note I found in that little girl's diary? Well, he is having his fun."

"But you confessed, it was you who said had assaulted McGee and Ziva."

"Yes, I did, but at which time, Gibbs wasn't as nearly as compulsive as I needed him. And knowing you threaten that man's family—there's no saying sorry. I did it directly for the result of Gibbs' angry. That man, now, will do anything, anything to get his hands on that son-of-a-bitch."

At the mention of such a vigor reference, Ducky rubbed his head and bandage, and sighed, "I think that's enough information to digest for one sitting. Let's take a short break so I can rest my head."

Carmen's heart filled with guilt again and frowned as she watched Ducky slide back into the bed and rolled over facing away from her.

~:.:~

The bullpen was crowded with vast amounts of various agencies: NCIS, FBI, and even Homeland Security, and even the local Police Department. All working together and maximizing their efforts to find Emily Fornell. Although Gibbs pissed off Homeland Security with his wild accusations that they were only there to keep an eye on the investigate (which Gibbs still believes), but Fornell insisted that every available hand be put to use—spy or not.

"Gibbs I think I located the Russian dictionary. . . ." McGee hollered but very quietly over his computer, his eyes never shifting from the screen. He waited until Gibbs was by his side to continuing talking hushed and Gibbs made a note of his quiet tone and bent closer to McGee.

"What do ya find, McGee?" whispered Gibbs.

McGee cast a weary glance around the crowded bull pen before relaying: "I've been back tracking some old case files Homeland Security had. At first glance they looked like ordinary case files but—" McGee popped a button dramatically, which brought up a digital copy of a case file.

Gibbs scanned the paper quickly, trying to find the significance McGee was pointing out. His eyes came to the bottom of the page—on the signature with looping curves: Caren Wilson.

"Carmen's mother. . . . "Gibbs said to himself.

"What's so strange about this is everything pertaining Caren Wilson or the Praying Manis Operation was destroyed, but somehow this one particular case file remains."

"Where did you find it?" asked Gibbs, leaning even closer to McGee, by which earned some off-cast glances.

"In the shoe box you find with in Carmen's apartment," replied McGee quietly. "And I believe that some of the markings are coded. . . . Gibbs I think Caren Wilson left this behind to be found—and in such way not to arouse the attention of Homeland Security. She left a trail of bread crumbs for only Carmen to follow. I think she'll show us how to find her dictionary—of which I except to be coded too. But with what—I don't know. "

Gibbs sighed, "Good work, McGee. . . . Break her code and find where that dictionary's located.

~:.:~

"What happened in Gibbs' basement—after you had escaped Ziva and we raided your apartment." Ducky asked after a short nap and quick shower. They sat around the table again, continuing their discussion once more.

Carmen sighed, and replied, "I knew after I had left NCIS—after Tony had made those accusations against me right after McGee got shot—I knew I couldn't risk going back to my apartment to retrieve my shoe box of information. I knew everything scrape of paper by heart, . . . but I knew Gibbs—or Tony would raid my apartment. I knew he'd find the box and discover the mission name of Operation Praying Mantis. . . . And that he'd figure out everything. Which he did and more. He actually gave me the break-through in the case. . . . He lead me right to—"

"Agent Fornell."

"Right." She sighed again.

"But up until recently, did I think you were just a "friend of the family"—who really liked my mother's cooking, a lot." She frowned. "But it turns out you were her co-worker, well, actually her boss, on the operation." She smiled and shook her head. "All this time—I never put the two-and-two together. You were F.B.I, she was a marine . . . All this time—all my effort and work I've put in—and all I had to do was pay, old, Mister Fornell a visit."

Fornell was lost. Effort? Her work? What was she talking about?

"I've dedicated my entire life's work for the finding of answers. . . . I've manipulated. Lied. And apparently the answers have been dangling right in front of my eyes. . . . You. Tobias. Will set me free. "

"So Agent Fornell and your mum?"

"Ya," she said with a lopsided smile. "Who would have known . . . and that's why I went to Gibbs' house that night. I knew he had information about the operation that I needed . . . but I knew he wasn't going to just tell me voluntarily."

"What'd you do to him?" Ducky asked with the slightest hint of a smirk. He was obvious he was trying not to smile.

"Nothing," Carmen defended with her own smirk. "He gave me that information on his own accord."

"You didn't, let's say, drug him?"

"Gibbs said he wasn't going to let me escape . . . so I had to have an exit strategy. So I laced his bourbon with a harmless little sedative."

Ducky chuckled, "You have no idea how pissed off Gibbs was when he woke up."

"I'd only want to imagine. . . . So that's where I got him to unknowingly divulge information leading me to Fornell, which I then realized Fornell had also been apart of my mother's operation."

"Carmen," interrupted Ducky suddenly. "Is that all that happened in the basement with Gibbs?"

Carmen didn't think it was relevant to include the good-bye kiss she gave to Gibbs on his cheek. And she knew Ducky would never rest until he analyze every motive and underlining reason as to why she kissed him. She didn't want to go down that road.

"Yes," she answered with a short response.

Ducky sighed, neither convinced or satisfied with her response, but didn't push it any further. "So, after you got what you wanted from Gibbs, you went to see Fornell."

"Ya," she smiled, her eyes becoming fixed on something in the background. It was as if she was remembering the happy times she had had with her mother and Fornell. "But our meeting was cut short by Tony. I didn't have a chance to ask Fornell about the operation or my mother. I didn't have time to convince him of the truth or of my innocence. . . . But I had a back-up plan just in case. I left a letter in my old train-station locker revealing my plead of innocence."

"So getting caught this time was not apart of the plan."

"No, I admit I was in big trouble with this one," she smiled sadly, then frowned. "Fornell was my last chance."

Ducky sighed, "Poor Fornell. I can't even imagine the agony he must be in with his daughter being kidnapped. . . . "Ducky snapped his head to Carmen. "Oh my god, you didn't have anything to do with that, did you?"

All the humor and amusement had left Ducky's voice. His brows knitted together with a sudden anger as he stared at Carmen, of who remained silent and just stared back at him with quiet eyes.

"Tell me you didn't!?"

"I did what I must."

~:.:~

Author's Note: Evil cliffhanger. Sorry. My original intention was not to end this chapter there, but I have a certain quota—a certain length I like to keep the chapter flowing. But, I am so excited to write the next chapter! Finally, this next chapter will reflect my romance genre...can you guess who will it involve? Yes, spoiler alert! Carmen and Gibbs...finally, don't you think? I think they have had enough sexual tension build-up and foreplay for one story. And sorry for any spelling or grammar errors (I'm getting better).

Anyways, thanks for reading and reviewing.