A/N

Still not mine, don't own them, not making any money from them. Please don't sue :)

Thank you for the follows/favourites/reviews. They give me a happy :) Flames will be use to roast marshmallows (Not that I've received any. You guys rock).

Once again, sorry about the delay in posting.

Chapter 5

Tony arrived home as quickly as possible without risking getting pulled over. He still had a mistrust of regular law enforcement. He didn't even bother to try waking Max. He knew after a seizure she could sleep for hours without being woken up having tended to her like this before. Being careful not to touch any skin, again cursing her need to wear as little as possible, he carried her into his apartment and tucked her into his bed and closed the door He did leave it open a crack in case she called out or needed him, nightmares from her time in Manticore were another nasty side effect of the seizures. Glancing around his apartment he gave it a nominal cleaning but knew by the time this evening was over the last thing on every ones minds would be whether he cleaned or not.

Meanwhile, back a NCIS, it took a few minutes for everyone to process what had happened. Gibbs was the first to recover since he already knew part of the story. Ducky packed up Tony's medical kit and carefully capped the needle intending to dispose of it in autopsy.

"Hey Duck, I'm going to take that. I want Abby to analyze it" He said reaching for the needle. "My gut is telling me that there is more going on than even Tony is going to tell us tonight. You get anything from the body?"

"Nothing of note with one exception. She was in good health, no noticeable signs of trauma. Still waiting on the tox screen from Ms Sciuto. The one thing of note was that the tattoo on the back of the victims neck was fresh, still healing. I'd say it was applied in the last few weeks. Abby may be able to find out which shop did the art work."

"Thanks Duck. Will we see you at Tony's tonight?" Gibbs was pretty sure what the answer would be but still wanted confirmation. At Ducky's nod he stepped out of the interrogation room. Striding past the observation room he called to Bishop and McGee. "On my six".

Both McGee and Bishop scrambled to keep up with Gibbs. Neither spoke as they strode into the Lab.

"Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs!" Abby was practically bouncing with excitement. "I know how the victim died. She was poisoned with Fugu, improperly prepared Fugu at that. She probably died less than an hour after ingesting the fish. I'm still running prints to find out who she is, so far no luck." Noting the lack of response from her audience and the lack of Caf-Pow in Gibbs hand she stopped talking. "Did I miss something and where's Tony."

"Tony took the witness to his place to rest. She had a seizure while in interrogation. They've known each other for years and he's helped her with this before. Good job on cause of death." Gibbs leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. Abby beamed at the praise. "Now I want you to see if you can run any tests on the blood in this syringe, belongs to the witness. You two, report." McGee jumped at the sudden switch in Gibbs focus.

"Still waiting to hear from the base commander but we should have the info on the home owner soon" At Gibbs glare McGee straightened. "and I'll head back upstairs and see what else I can find." He darted out the door before Gibbs could object.

"Bishop, the victim had a fresh tattoo on the back of her neck. Work with Abby to find out who did it and who paid for it. Might help identify the victim. If you're going, meet at Tony's for seven tonight" Not waiting for a reply he headed out of the lab. Abby sat Bishop down with the "T" section of her address book. Ellie started a the top of the rather extensive list of Tattoo shops to see if she could find the shop that did the victims tattoo. Meanwhile Abby too the minute sample of blood from the tip of the syringe and started it running through Major Mass Spec. It wasn't long before the machine started give an error alert. Abby grabbed the print outs off the tray and started reading through them.

"This can't be right. Ellie looked up from dialing the next number on the list. Abby continued "Unless the sample was somehow contaminated, it says here that the witness, strange that Gibbs didn't tell me her name, anyway, the witness not only has human DNA but also cat DNA and a few others mixed in as well, which is not possible... unless..." She dashed for her computer and started furiously typing on her keyboard muttering to herself the whole time. Bishop, having witnessed this before just left her to it and went back to dialing the tattoo shops.

Back upstairs McGee was just settling into his desk chair when he remembered the laptop in Tony's desk drawer. Debating with himself for a few minutes, he gave in and removed the computer from it's hiding place. Setting it on his desk he hit the power button. Instead of a normal log in screen there was an encryption algorithm unlike any he had seen before. Realizing he couldn't break the encryption in the amount of time he had, if at all, he shut the computer down and returned it to the desk drawer. He would just ask Tony about it later tonight. He would love to meet the person who create that algorithm and hoped Tony could put him in touch with the coder. The ringing of his desk phone interrupted his musings. The base commander was finally returning his call. The reply he got only deepened the mystery. According to the commander the petty officer assigned to that house was currently deployed on the USS Theodore Roosevelt and was listed as living alone. The house should have been empty.

Gibbs strode into the bullpen and behind his desk before McGee could stand up. Unlocking his cabinet he grabbed his gun and badge. Without giving McGee a chance to report what he found, Gibbs barked

"Be at DiNozzo's for seven"

Again, without waiting for a reply, he grabbed his things and headed for the elevator. Knowing there wasn't anything else he would accomplish without further information he logged off his computer and gathered his things. As an after thought he also grabbed the laptop from Tony's desk drawer. As he was heading out he called Delilah to see if she was available for an early dinner. He also sent quick texts to Abby and Bishop to let them know he was leaving for the day and Gibbs had already left.

Back in Abby's lab Abby was still furiously typing on her computer occasionally sending documents to the printer. With a sigh she finally stopped at the beeping of her cell phone. Seeing McGee's text she printed off the final few last pages of her research and shut her computer down. Bishop was packing up as well.

"Since we seem to be having an early night, I'm going to call Jake and see if he's free, you want to join us for dinner? At Abby's nod they grabbed their things and headed out.

"You know, we should call McGee and Delilah and maybe Ducky and Jimmy too and see if they want to join us for dinner." With Bishop's agreement and quick texts to McGee, Ducky and Palmer, they all agreed to meet at DC-3 before going to Tony's. They debated inviting Gibbs but figured he was already on his way to Tony's wanting to hear the story before anyone else and without an audience. Abby wasn't too far off with her guess. While Gibbs wasn't on his way to Tony's yet but would be shortly. He had stopped at his favorite deli and was picking up sandwiches for himself, Tony and Max. Remembering Max's need for tryptophan he got her a turkey sandwich along with Tony's cheese steak and his own reuben. After adding a half gallon of milk to the order he headed for Tony's. As was his custom, he let himself in to Tony's apartment, knowing Tony would be expecting him. He could hear Tony toying with a melody on his piano, what he didn't expect was to see a mostly naked Max, wrapped only in a towel, as soon as he walked in the door.

"Sorry, was just taking a shower, I think I killed Logan... Tony's hot water." She shrugged then called back into the apartment "Logan, your boss is here. I'm going to go get dressed." Gibbs watched as Max and Tony carefully manoeuvred through the narrow hallway, never touching.

"I brought food." was the only comment from Gibbs as he moved into the kitchen laying out the sandwiches and getting glasses down. Having nursed Tony through hangovers and heartbreak he knew exactly where everything was.

"It's not what you think Boss" Tony started to explain. Gibbs held up a hand to stop him.

"Eat, then explanations" was his reply. "Everyone else will be here at seven." With that Gibbs unwrapped his sandwich and took a bite. By the time Tony was unwrapping his own sandwich Max had rejoined them, sitting on the opposite side of the island, across from Gibbs. She was wearing one of Tony's long sleeve shirts, arms rolled up a few times over her sleeveless shirt. After a few bites in silence Gibbs glanced up "So, what's with you two? If I was in your position, with a second chance with "The One" I wouldn't be dancing around barely touching. Actually, I haven't seen you touch at all, not without something between you."

Tony set his sandwich down. "That is part of the very long story we're going to get into once everyone else is here. I can tell you that if Max and I touch skin to skin it will kill me. We thought we had a cure at one point but it was only temporary." Both sighed at the memory then turned back to their sandwiches. They finished in silence. Tony decided to check on searches he had started. He was shocked to realize it was only earlier that morning that he started them, it felt like days had passed. Opening his computer room door he didn't realize Gibbs had walked up behind him. Gibbs had previously noted that the apartment had a room that he had never seen and was always kept locked. Seeing it now and the computer set up inside he realized that the secrets his Senior Field agent ran deeper than he ever thought.

"This part of that story you're going to be telling us?"

"Yeah boss." was Tony's only reply as he settled into his computer chair. Checking the different deep web searches he had left running he was suspicious of the lack of any chatter on the murder. He had expected to hear something, the lack of any mention was telling in and of itself. While he checked the searches Gibbs wandered the room and looked at the pictures Tony kept there. He guessed they were all from his time as "Logan". Pictures of Max and a pretty African American woman smiling for the camera. Max glaring at a young man who was smirking right back at her. The one that really caught his attention was one of Tony and Max together. Max was sitting in Tony's lap while Tony was seated in a wheelchair.

"Even before I was a cop I had a hero complex." Tony laughed with little humour. "I was trying to help a woman who was the only witness to a crime and took a police issue to the spine for my troubles. Was paralyzed from the waist down but thanks to an extremely experimental procedure I got the use of my legs back." Lifting the back of his shirt, Gibbs could see the bullet scar dead center of Tony's back. Dropping his shirt back in place Tony left the computer room but didn't bother to close or lock the door. He knew McGee and Abby would want to check out his computers once they got through the story time portion of their evening, that is if they were still talking to him. With that thought there was a knock at his door. Checking the peephole he saw that the entire team, including Jake and Delilah were waiting on the other side. Opening the door he ushered them all in. After jackets were removed they all settled in the living room. Ellie and Jake took the love seat. Abby, Jimmy and McGee grabbed kitchen chairs, while Gibbs and Max sat on opposite sides of the couch. Ducky settled on the piano bench with Delilah's wheelchair parked next to him. Tony sighed, ran a hand through his hair and addressed his family since that's what they were, a family.

"Before I explain everything, nothing that is said here can leave this apartment. Jake, I like you but that goes double for you. Nobody speaks of this after tonight, Clear?" He waited for everyone to nod before continuing. "Thanks, I know my behaviour on this case has been erratic, after tonight you will understand why. First off, I'd like to formally introduce you to Max. We have known each other for many years. Back to before I was ever a cop" Max gave a half wave to everyone in the room. "Gibbs has heard some of this already. I asked that you let me get this all out before asking questions. I promise to answer them all." Swallowing he continued "After the Pulse I was living with my mother's brother in Seattle. Since he hated my dad even more than I did at the time, I was using my middle name 'Logan' and mom's maiden name 'Cale'. Mom's family was wealthy and so I inherited a rather hefty trust fund from her, some of that I used to attended Yale for business and journalism but that was cut short thanks to the Pulse. I only completed one year. After the Pulse I saw what was happening on the West Coast and knew I had to do something. As I told Gibbs earlier I've always had a hero complex. I decided to use what I had learned to fight the injustice I was seeing in Seattle. Much like McGee's beloved Superheroes I knew I could use my wealth to help people but at the same time I needed an alter ego so to speak, to protect my friends and family so I started the "Eyes Only Informant Net". Holding up a hand to stop both McGee and Abby from speaking. "Again, I need you to wait for questions." Abby was literally bouncing in her chair and McGee sat in stunned silence. "As 'Eyes Only' I was able to expose the corruption in Seattle. The next part is Max's story." Carefully passing each other, Tony sat down and Max stood.

"My story will be harder to believe than even Logan's. I was created in a lab. The scientists were working to create the perfect soldier. I don't know if it was government sanctioned or if the lab 'Manticore' was hoping to sell to the military once they perfected the process but we were born to surrogates and then raised and trained to be soldiers. Max sighed. In that pause, Abby jumped up.

"I knew it, soon as I saw the blood tests I knew it. You're one of the Transgenics we heard about 10 or so years ago. That is so cool. I have so many questions for you." Realizing everyone was looking at her. "Sorry, I'll just sit down and wait til later." She blushed. Max gave her a smile.

"Abby, is it? I'll be happy to answer your questions later, as much as I know. It's unusual to find someone who likes us. Mostly we get the torch and pitchfork crowd. Anyway, 12 of use escaped from Manticore and went our separate ways. I've been searching for them ever since. I met Logan trying to steal some art from him in order to fund my search to reunite my 'siblings'. Logan asked me to help him expose the corrupt government but I was too concerned with my own search I turned him down. That is until I saw him helping a the child of a witness to that corruption who would have been killed if Logan hadn't take the bullet instead." Tony unconsciously rubbed the spot on his back. "I'll admit I decided to help at first out of guilt. Then as we got to know each other his quest became mine. I was his legs while he was the brains of the operation. That is until I was recaptured by Manticore. They tried to turn me back into the perfect soldier but I was able to escape again. What we didn't know was that they had infected me with a tailor made virus keyed to Logan's DNA. If we touch bare skin, he will die. The reason I was at that house was that I received intel that I could find one of the X5's there. Turns out the poor woman was a decoy, likely to draw me out. There are still a few people who would like to 'study' me. Why don't we take a break, get some drinks then we can answer any questions." With the team's agreement they headed for the kitchen.