NCIS opened with individuals doing community service by picking up trash. A young man notices one of them is a congressman who got busted for having a hooker. But as the older man is trying to ignore him, he spots a motorcycle in the grass and calls his supervisor. They walk over to see a dead body.
Tim and Ellie arrive at work where Tim is talking about having spent the night at home alone, but he assures her things are fine with Delilah. They see Tony is in a good mood, which is because his dad is coming for a visit and is ready to meet Zoe. He hints that things with him and Zoe are going very well as Gibbs comes to tell them about their case.
At the scene, Ellie tells Gibbs it looks like a single accident with no other cars involved. Gibbs has Tony get the items the volunteers had bagged in case any evidence was picked up while Tim identifies the victim as Marine Lance Corporal David Austin. Ducky and Palmer talk as Gibbs comes over to view the body of their victim. Ducky reveals the victim as a gunshot wound to the chest.
In the bullpen, the team tells Gibbs that Austin had been going back to Norfolk after spending time with his parents. He appeared to be a top student and they are surprised when DiNozzo Sr. comes in. Ellie goes to hug him and he greets Tim and Gibbs as Tony wonders why he is there early. His dad tells him that they wouldn’t let him in without a key, so Tony gives him his. Senior tells his son he will take care of dinner, which Zoe is attending. Gibbs gets a call from Abby.
Going to the lab, Gibbs sees Abby is cleaning out her lab. She talks about spring cleaning and offers to clean his basement, but he balks. Abby tells Gibbs the bullet in the victim’s body came from an FN five-seven pistol. She informs him the weapon was purchased by ATF.
Vance and Gibbs talk to Zoe, who tells them the gun was one of many that were sold to buyers in an operation that turned out to be a big embarrassment for ATF. The weapons were supposed to be tracked to drug cartels, but ended up in violent crimes in all of Mexico. She has been assigned to help them figure out how one of their missing weapons ended up in their murder investigation. She leaves the room and Vance tells Gibbs to “tread lightly.”
In the squad room, Tony and Zoe talk about the evening’s dinner and she admits to being nervous and brings up Meet The Parents. Tony assures her his dad isn’t the Robert de Niro character just as Gibbs walks past to tell them to go back to work. Tony tells Gibbs that Austin was a good marine and that he had no access to classified intel. When Gibbs mentions Zoe is working with them, Tony offers to work with her while Tim and Ellie track Austin’s movements the day he died.
Tim and Ellie go to see Abby, who tells them about the jacket the victim was wearing. Based on the residue found on the jacket, Abby determined the shooter was very close and since Ellie had figured out Austin was riding his motorcycle around 50 to 60 miles per hour, then the killer had to be moving along side him during the shooting. She also shows them that Austin was running very low on gas and despite driving past a gas station on his route, he never stopped for gas.
Meanwhile, Zoe and Tony are debating on bringing in the ATF agents who worked on Operation Fast and Furious for a talk. She isn’t sure about bringing them in for interrogation and reminds him a lot of agents’ careers were ruined. She wants to go to them, but he feels that they need to put on some pressure. Then Tony wonders if this is the first fight of their relationship.
At the gas station, Tim notices security cameras nearby and they go inside to talk to the attendant, an older man who tells them his stepson was working around 4 in the morning at the time of the accident and probably didn’t see anything. When they ask about anything strange that occurred, he mentions a credit card went through at 3:50 am but no gas was used. The credit card belonged to the victim and they ask to see security footage and when they do, Tim and Ellie see Austin swipe his card, but then he notices a car across from him. He then gets on his motorcycle and drives after the car.
Zoe and Tony are talking about the interview they did with the ATF agents, but it did not go well. She suggests reaching out to her old mentor who had been around during the sting and then Tony hears the fire alarm. Inside, his dad completely ruined dinner and it is on fire. Zoe is surprised at what is happening as Senior introduces himself and tells her he had been trying to make beef Wellington. Tony tries to open the windows, but then he sees his furniture has been rearranged. Zoe feels she should go, but they tell her not to leave. However, Tony is upset and laments on the fact that things like this happen when his dad is around and he walks away.
Abby is waiting in her lab as Ellie and Tim come down. She was able to enhance the footage enough to see the height of the man Austin was following. But she also saw a woman in the car mouthing ‘Help me.’
Ellie tells Gibbs about Austin trying to help a woman when he was shot and killed. They were unable to get information on the driver, but they did find the car belongs to Jennifer Vickers, but they aren’t sure if she is the woman in the car. Tony comes in and tells them about the rough night. He says his dad left and he thinks he could be at the Adams House, but Gibbs tells him that his dad went to his house. Tony is stunned as he gets a call from MTAC. The agent Keates had mentioned is calling, but Tony isn’t sure he should work with her considering they are dating, so he asks Gibbs to take care of it.
Tim goes into MTAC for Tony as Keates and Vance talk to the agent, Phil Caffey. He isn’t sure he can remember the weapon from eight years ago, but he agrees to check as long as he has a serial number. Zoe is not too happy Tony didn’t come and asks Tim where he is. He stammers as he tells her he is busy doing something for Gibbs before leaving.
Gibbs and Ellie go to talk to Jennifer Vickers, who tells her that her daughter Emma has been using her car. She worries she could be in trouble because she has a history of drug use. They ask if she has her phone, but Jennifer tells them she had the phone turned off so she couldn’t call her dealer. They show her the picture of the woman in the car and she verifies it is Emma and she asks about the reason they are looking for her.
Tim tells Tony that he put out a BOLO for their missing woman and Tony tells him that her NA sponsor said she had not been to a meeting in a long time. Zoe comes in and is standoffish as she wonders who she will be working with on the case. Tony tries to play it off when she asks why he didn’t go to MTAC and when he tries to lie, it doesn’t match with Tim’s story. Tim asks about what Caffey said about the weapon and she tells them he hadn’t found anything. Tony isn’t sure he can believe him and Tim agrees. Zoe reminds them that they wouldn’t impede an investigation into the death of a marine.
Meanwhile at Gibbs’ house, Gibbs comes home to see Senior is drinking his Scotch, but hasn’t eaten anything. He goes into the kitchen to make him a sandwich as Senior talks about having tried to get back into the art world game. However, he had no more contacts left and when he went to New York, his friends were gone. He really wanted to focus on the most important part of his life, which was Tony, but he realizes he messed up before he could talk to him. Gibbs talks about his own father and wishing he could have pushed harder for him to move in with him during his last years. Then Gibbs gets a call that sends him out to an alley. Ellie tells him that the car was found and inside, they see the body of Emma Vickers.
At the scene, Tim tells Gibbs the victim died recently, so they wonder what she had been doing for two days. Before they leave, Gibbs tells Tony to come with him. He takes Tony to his house to see Senior, where Tony reveals that Gibbs talked to him about wanting to live there. Tony apologizes for the night before and tells him he wants to help find an apartment. But Senior isn’t sure that Tony really wants to take care of him.
Jimmy and Ducky are with Emma’s body. Jimmy is having a bit of trouble seeing her because he now has a new perspective on life after being a father. He tells Ducky he wishes he could raise Victoria in a world without drugs as Gibbs comes for an update. They tell him they found evidence of drug use, along with bruising and bite marks. They also sent a sexual assault kit up to Abby.
Upstairs, Tony and Ellie are about to leave when Gibbs comes in. They are heading back to the alley to see if they can find any witnesses. Tim tells Gibbs Abby found nothing useful off the car and it had no GPS, but that she found someone used hand sanitizer on the car. Gibbs sends Ellie off and Tony thanks Gibbs for his help with his father before he leaves.
In Tony’s apartment, Senior is looking around when Zoe comes by to look for her glasses she thinks she may have forgotten. Things are awkward when he mentions Tony committing to her. He tells her that he committed “too freely” and thinks Tony did the opposite and he thinks Tony made a good decision with her.
Tim and Gibbs discuss the case with Vance, who asks if they are sure this is a murder. Gibbs reminds him the car was wiped clean as Abby quickly runs in. She found a DNA match from the sex assault kit and it came back to Jamie Rivers, who is connected with ATF. He was arrested for illegally using firearms and when they see a photo of his arrest, they see none other than Agent Phil Caffey.
Tim tells Ellie and Tony that he couldn’t find any records to indicate that Rivers had ever been outside of Arizona and his last known address was four years old. They are interrupted when Senior comes in to tell Tony that an apartment is available above Tony’s own apartment and they could live close together, much to Tony’s dismay.
Gibbs, Vance, and Keates talk to Caffey, who tells them that Rivers had agreed to work with them and led Caffey to believe the gun with that serial number went to drug cartels. He didn’t know Rivers was in DC. They finish the interview and Vance asks Keates if she trusts him, which she does. She figures Rivers may still be dealing in illegal weapons and goes to talk to an informant.
Down in autopsy, Jennifer Vickers views her daughter’s body and asks Ducky about Austin’s remains. He tells her he has been returned to his family and she tells both him and Ellie that Emma had money left to her that she wants donated to a charity in Austin’s name, so Ducky happily gives her the name of a Marine scholarship organization.
Vance is on the phone with the director of ATF, who is not willing to cooperate with them since they are worried NCIS will reopen their case of the old operation. He hangs up and Zoe comes in to tell them Rivers has been selling firearms, but he also became addicted to the drugs he sold to drug dealers. She goes to see if she can set up a buy with the informant.
At the park, Tim sits alone while Tony and Gibbs are in one car and Ellie and Zoe are in another. Tony is lamenting on Tim playing the role of the buyer and he is ignoring calls from his dad. Gibbs tells him they need to talk eventually and Tony brings up the honeymoon period with Zoe. In the other car, Zoe asks about Tony and if he had issues working with her, but Ellie sidesteps and tells her he is just complicated. They are able to hear Tony talking and Ellie reminds him as Zoe tells Tony they need to communicate. Tim interrupts to let them know that a man is approaching in a similar hat that was seen in the security video. An issue arrises when they see two mountain cops and Gibbs tells Ellie to identify herself to them as Tony and Gibbs go after Rivers. Just as Rivers goes to shoot them, Gibbs shoots him and kills him. They retrieve the murder weapon and the gun he had been planning to sell.
At Tony’s apartment complex, Zoe and Tony share a sweet moment after having talked things out. She assures him she wants them to work and he feels the same. They share a sweet kiss before he goes upstairs ready to talk to his dad. However, Senior beats him to the punch as he has already realized it’s not a good idea to be so close to his son and should give him space. Tony is grateful and offers to let his dad stay for the weekend so they can go apartment hunting. Senior then asks about senior residences since there are often “attractive, rich widows.” Oh, Senior.
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