"Target's name is Kody Meyers, fifteen years old." The head of SRT stands in front of the surveillance cameras around school. "According to the witness, he came to class with a bomb strapped to his chest."

He points up to the footage where one of the teams is in place.

"We set a perimeter outside the classroom. Evacuated all nonessentials. EOD's on site sweeping for secondaries."

"How many hostages?" Tony glances over at him.

"Four, maybe five." He assumes. "My men are doing a headcount on the student body."

"Any description of the bomb from the witness?"

"She was rushed to emergency. Being treated for a panic attack."

"DiNozzo, Eva, find out who Kody Meyers is and get his parents in here." Gibbs demands strictly before turning back to the SRT leader.

I glance over Tony, our cellphones already in hand.

This isn't going to be easy.

By the time we finish making the calls, Gibbs is creeping towards the classroom of hostages. Tony's abrupt whispering startles him out of his thoughts.

"I found Kody's father. He was at a conference in Washington, D.C.. MPs are escorting him now." The senior agent lets him know, to which Gibbs cocks a brow.

"I just thought you'd want to know before you go in there."

Gibbs turns to me with raised brows.

"Don't look at me. He insisted you'd want to know."

My hand finds Tony's, and I pull him back towards the agents in place, leaving Gibbs to be.

"I told you not to bother him when he's in the mood."

"Funny. You didn't seem to mind when I was bothering you last night."

"Zip it, DiNozzo."

After a brief conversation with Kody, he agrees to release one of the hostages. She steps with her hands raised, and Gibbs rushes to retrieve her.

"Debrief her."

Tony and I run off to the backstage setup, the young teen between us. Once we make her comfortable at one of the desks, we begin the process.

Although she's traumatized through the entire discussion, Tony calms her every time while jotting down every piece of information she gives.

"He's going to blow everyone up!" She sobs into my shoulder once again.

I gently wrap my right arm around her, holding the young girl as she cries.

"No, he's not." Gibbs enters, tossing his hat onto the table. "It's not going to happen, Stephanie."

McGee runs inside. "Boss, got the inhaler."

"I have to take it to her. That's what he said." Stephanie sniffles, wiping under her eyes to get rid of the tear stains. "I have to get the inhaler and bring it back to her because she needs it!"

"I'll take it."

All eyes fall on me for a moment.

"DiNozzo, go get her a drink."

Once Tony leaves with Stephanie, McGee and I concur around Gibbs near the bookshelves.

"Boss, you're not going to send Eva back in there, are you?" The probationary agent glances over in my direction for a split second.

I unstrap my guns from their holsters, grabbing the inhaler. From the yellow briefcase, I slip an earwig into my ear as well as a microphone to the cuff of my jacket.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Gibbs' voice is rather loud when he calls out to me.

My shoulders shrug. "You know, just going for a little walk." I raise two fingers. "I'll be on channel two if you need me."

I signal the armed agents to lower their guns as I stand in front of the room. With a swift movement, I swing open the door.

Kody, his finger over the switch, steps back violently. "What the hell are you doing?"

"The inhaler." My right arm raises, revealing the medical device.

"Stephanie was supposed to bring it. Where's Stephanie?"

"She's safe now."

"No. No, this is-this is all wrong." He scratches the back of his head.

I extend my arm out. "Give the girl her inhaler."

"I'm in charge here!" He growls aggressively. "Not you!"

Rather than let my overpowering ego control my actions, I simply raise both arms in surrender.

"Get Stephanie back in here!"

"Can't do that."

He motions to the rest of his classmates sitting idly in their seats. All except for one, a young girl in the front struggles to breathe.

"You're killing everyone!"

"Yet I'm not the one with a bomb strapped to my chest." This angers him more. "I am going to give her the inhaler now."

Once I am close enough, she snatches it out of my open palm and shakes it furiously. I bend down in front of her desk, monitoring her as she puffs the inhaler.

"She's fine. Now get out!" Kody demands. "Get out now, or we all die!"

"There are Marines standing guard right outside this door." I stand to my feet. "You keep me in this room, and there's a chance you'll get out of here alive."

A few seconds of silence pass. "Shut the door. And search her."

The young football player struggles to run his hands over my suit, not knowing what exactly he's supposed to be searching for.

"Put everything you find on the desk."

Once he finds my miniscule devices for communication, Kody forces him to destroy them, canceling any sort of communication with the others.

"You have no idea what you're dealing with here."

The male students barricade the doors to prohibit others from entering. The blinds are shut all the way to obscure the snipers' view of Kody.

"You still have a chance to fix this." I slowly pace around the teacher's desk, looking through the infographics across the wall.

He scoffs. "What, you're going to reason with me? Go ahead." The blinds snap shut when he releases them. "No, really, go ahead. Convince me I'm not in trouble."

I discreetly twist the room's thermostat to a higher number.

"It's up to you to decide how much you're in trouble."

"What did you just do?" His gaze bores into my own. "You just did something. What was it?"

A voice speaks from the other side of the door, revealing to be Tony. He plays the role of my boss and pretends I'm the negotiator.

So Kody demands for his mother's presence by sundown.

"Kody? I'm here to give you an update." Tony arrives once again. "Wanted to let you know Special Agent Caitlin Todd is out looking for your mom."

Without changing my facial expression, I look towards the door. Kate's dead, which can mean only one thing. . .

The mother's dead, too.

"Don't come back until you find her. I. . .I won't tell you again."

"Alright. I'm going." The footsteps drift off as he walks away from the door.

Some more time passes with Kody pacing across the room and yelling at a few of his classmates for no apparent reason.

The computer on the desk behind flashes a message.

Eva. . .we can see you.

Nadia gasps when she sees the monitor, accidentally dropping her inhaler. I step forward and grab it for her.

"What did you. . .what did you just do?" Kody charges towards me. "What just-What just happened?"

"I-I don't —"

"Knocked over her inhaler by accident." I pick up the small device.

She hesitantly takes it out of my hand, glancing back at the computer as if it were an illusion.

"I suggest letting Nadia go. As a sign of good faith."

Signs of frustration are evident on his face. "No one leaves. Do you get this?"

Once Kody has his back turned and is looking away from the monitor, it flashes another message from the team.

Mom is dead. . .last year.

I take it as a sign to bring her up to Kody, observe his reaction and listen to what he has to say about her. Especially why he wants to see her when she's dead.

While he stares out through the blinds, I notice a translucent earwig peeking out of the top of his ear.

So I slowly make my way towards the monitor, signing puppet so Abby may understand. She types in the word, and I confirm with a hand nod.

Earwig?

I nod once, looking up at the world map overhead.

"You just nodded. Why'd you just nod?" Kody yells. "Were you signaling someone in this room?"

"No." I reply firmly.

He lets it go, and I realize whoever's talking to him through the earwig also has eyes and ears within the classroom.

"Look, we're-we're running out of time here. Where's my mother?" He questions me.

I continue to sit at my desk. "If you'll allow me to talk to my boss, I'll get a status update."

With a moment of hesitation, he tosses me my cellphone.

"Do it. Put it on speaker."

Tony reveals that Agent Todd has her number, but we don't really have it. But in the second call, he says that we have her.

Apparently, the team's plan succeeds as we get all of the kids out of the room and deactivate the bomb on Kody's chest. Abby and McGee track our true killers' location, where Tony and Gibbs pay them a surprise visit.

"One ice cream sundae for the man in my life."

Bark!

"Sorry. One ice cream sundae for the human man in my life."

Five scoops of ice cream, four types of sprinkles, three bananas, two giant stacks of whipped cream, and one pair of maraschino cherries.

"Oh, you shouldn't have." Tony moves over on the sofa, making space for me. "Although, it looks absolutely delicious."

I snuggle into the blankets I piled around us earlier. He hands me a spoon before switching on a rerun of Friends.

"Thank you for saving my life."

"I'd do it every day if I had to."