"Good morning —" A sneeze interrupts my greeting, "agents."

Tony and Kate look up at the sudden action. Once she realizes it's me, Kate looks away. But Tony's eyes are trained on me.

"You coming down with something? 'Cause you look like hell."

"A woman loves to hear that, Tony." Kate defends me while I'm too busy battling a cough.

He reaches a hand up to his tie, gently pulling down on the knot. "You want to, uh, tell the doctor about it?" His gaze rakes over my body.

"You guys ready to go?" Gibbs to the rescue.

I drop my purse at my desk and pick up the go-bag, throwing a thumbs up in his direction.

"Uh, all set. Uh, yeah. . ." Kate grabs her coat and bag. "Duck and Jackson are already on their way — oh!" When she comes to a stop in front of Gibbs' desk, she accidentally knocks over his coffee cup.

"Now she's done it." I run a frantic hand through my hair.

Completely frozen, she stares down at the cup for a few moments. "Oh, God. I'm sorry." She bends to the ground to clean it. "I. . .what do you put in your coffee?"

"Coffee."

"Okay. I'll just go down the hall and get you another cup —"

"That's not coffee."

Bag in hand, Gibbs steps over the spilled liquid.

"Meet you in the truck." Is all he says.

The calm before the storm.

"I've never experienced Gibbs without his morning coffee." Tony whispers once our boss is out of sight. "Evaline, Kate, we're in uncharted waters here."

Agent Timothy McGee, the one called in the case, stands to the side with a mask over his mouth. As Ducky gives his preliminary observations of the body, we divide up the work.

Kate's on pictures, and Tony and McGee take measurements, and I am left to sketch.

The sky turns dark, and it's already night by the time we're done.

"We have to keep the crime scene under guard until it's released by Gibbs." Tony informs the young agent, who passes me the last box of equipment.

McGee obliges, "I'll let security know."

"Gibbs wants NCIS to remain in control."

"So I should stay here?"

"Mm-hmm." Tony hums in confirmation. "We'll get you relieved as soon as we can." I jump out, and he closes up the back doors.

Shivering from the cold sea breeze, I tug on the ends of my jacket. "You're terrible, Tony. Making the poor guy stand out here in the cold."

"I'm only doing it because I can." He smirks maliciously. "Bet you were a lot of fun in college."

"I'll have you know I rushed in college, so I was a lot of fun."

"Is that so?"

The next morning, we go back to Norfolk, joined by McGee, to discuss Ducky and Abby's findings. A tattoo on the victim's arm reveals that he was a submariner.

"What if the body was put into acid, not only to dispose of it but to —"

"But to make certain that it couldn't be identified?" Kate completes Gibbs' statement.

"Maybe the murderer didn't want us to know —"

"To know the submariner was dead." I take over for Tony.

"Maybe."

McGee comes running towards us. "Agent Gibbs!" He waves a stack of papers. "The ALPHA rosters. Everyone on the sub crews is accounted for.

"Including the Philadelphia?" Gibbs flips through the names.

"Yes, sir."

"A submariner is dead, but none are missing. And the dead man's identity was removed." He looks out onto base. "Someone took his place on one of those subs."

"An imposter?" The three of us furrow our brows.

"Let's pay a visit to the Submarine Squadron Commander." We start walking again, except. . .

"Uh, you want to avoid Captain Veitch." McGee tosses a warning. "Well, I, um, met him once before. Uh, he can be very. . .difficult."

"And you don't think that I can be difficult?" Gibbs challenges all while getting into McGee's face.

"Um, I'm sure, sir."

During the talk with Veitch, he denies Gibbs' request to send himself and Kate out onto the Philadelphia.

Not because it had already been deployed, but because Kate is a woman.

So Gibbs kicks both me and Kate out of the room.

"What an ass." I scoff in disbelief. "I mean, I'd understand a tiny bit better if we were living in the 1700s, but we're not."

"Exactly."

Then, Gibbs and Tony step out of the office, meeting us outside.

"What is this, Victorian England?" Kate calls out to them. "The men with their cigars and brandy while the ladies sip tea in another room?" She questions.

"She's way more qualified than Tony. Even me."

"To replace me because I shave my legs and not my face is unconscionable and certainly not in the best interest of the case."

"You claustrophobic?" He questions, not bothering to wait for an answer as he walks away.

"No."

"Good."

She flashes me a smile before quickly following behind him.

"Guess you're stuck with me, E." Tony throws an arm over my shoulders.

"Don't touch me, T." A sigh leaves my lips. "She gets to ride a submarine, and I'm stuck with you and that Norfolk agent."

The next morning, Tony and I drive to the Norfolk base for our first day without the boss. We lounge around Agent McGee's office, waiting for an update from either Abby or Ducky.

"Would you stop playing around with that piece of tape?"

The desk phone rings, and I reach over to press the speaker button.

"Do you see it yet?" As soon as Abby says it, the fax machine turns on and begins to print.

"Yeah, it's coming through." Tony lets her know.

McGee awkwardly watches the machine. "So, you two resort to making out in there yet?"

Oh, God.

"Well, I offered, but Evaline isn't in the mood." Tony teases. "Oh, and it's not just the two of us. We have Special Agent McGee here with us. Say hello."

I add, "And be nice."

"Hey, McGee. How's your Sig hangin'?" She asks.

"Uh. . ." McGee looks to us for help.

"Gotta go, Abbs." Tony hangs up the phone before extending a hand out. McGee passes him the print of the 3D picture.

I let out a catcall. "Who'd want him dead?"

"What's she look like?"

"Who?"

"Abby. Sounds cute."

Tony and I face each other, bursting out in laughter.

"What? What-What's wrong?" His brows knit together.

"She is not your type." Tony breaks out through some laughs. "Definitely not."

McGee stands up taller. "Well, how do you know that?"

"Do you have a tattoo on your butt?" I cock a brow. "Better yet, do you have a tattoo?" He flusters slightly.

"I. . .don't think so."

"Then we need never speak of her again."

Well, there's the end of that discussion.

"Make copies. Circulate them around the base. See if anyone recognizes the guy." Tony hands him back the image.

"Okay, if I'm gonna stay and work with you, I have one rule: don't do anything stupid."

"Now that the kid's gone, wanna make out?"

"One rule, Tony! One rule!"

Later into the evening, after McGee comes back, Tony receives a call from Gibbs telling him to check the Philadelphia's service records.

And that's exactly what we do next morning.

Once we get a name and address of a possible suspect, we decide to pay him a visit. At the address, the three of us creep up to the shed.

McGee knocks on the door, but there's no answer.

"Well, either no one's home or not answering." Tony stands straight up after surveilling the inside through the windows.

"What should we do?"

I glance down at the ground and notice a pretty big rock. Could do some damage.

"You two might want to step aside." My fingers wrap around the rock, and I pick it up. "Tony, dear, don't you think this is just a perfect time to play some catch?"

He catches on rather quickly. "Bring it on, Eva."

I chuck the rock, and it breaks straight through the glass panel on the door.

"Oops." I fake a surprised expression. "Must have slipped." McGee stares in astonishment, so I walk past him. Reaching a hand through the shattered window, I unlock the front door.

Inside the house, we find a secret room. A room dedicated to saving the whales.

"Guess flying toasters would have been too much to ask for." Tony states.

Meanwhile, McGee tries to hack into the computer displaying an animated video loop of a whale attacking a submarine.

"Let's see what we have here." He types away on the keyboard.

"You've taken computer classes." Tony points out.

Not missing a beat, McGee answers, "Master's in computer forensics, MIT."

"I see." Tony clears his throat.

I look at the contents on the monitor. "Yup. We are definitely dealing with an eco-terrorist. Seems like he's looking for retributions for whales."

"Oh, this isn't good." McGee stops on a particular page. "Isopropyl methylphosphonofluoridate." We look down at him. "B.S. in biomedical engineering, Johns Hopkins." He adds. "You?"

"Ohio State, phys-ed." Tony answers shamefully. "I was a jock."

McGee turns to me since I haven't answered.

"Oh, you know. College." I shrug my shoulders, but Tony raises a brow, suddenly interested. "Alright, fine. B.S. in criminology, U.C. Berkeley. Master's in criminal justice, Harvard." I disclose. "I swear, I'm not a geek."

Apparently, that long chemical happens to be sarin gas, and our murderer planned to introduce it into the submarine's air conditioning system.

Abby manages to figure out our imposter, Petty Officer Drew, before he can infiltrate the system.

Soon, Tony and I are back at headquarters.

"Got us some celebratory ice cream for our hard work on the case." I hand him a container. "Now, I don't know what your favorite flavor is, so I went with mine."

"Cookies and cream?" He looks up at me. "My favorite." I smile in relief. "Except I always take mine with —"

"Extra oreos and whipped cream?" I pull out a giant pack of Oreos and two canisters of whipped cream. "After all, it's the only proper way to eat it."

"Finally. A woman who isn't afraid to indulge in her favorite foods." He winks flirtily.

"Not your type, T. Not your type."