"Damn it!" "Not here." "Leave a message." "Vince, it's me." "I need to talk to you." "Call me when you get this." "Oh, come on." "Hello?" "Somebody there?" "Loki." "You scared me half to death." "Go on, get inside." "Loki, I thought I told you to..." "* NCIS 12x13 * We Build, We Fight Original Air Date on February 3, 2015" "== sync, corrected by elderman == @elder_man" "* *" "Okay, open mine." "Open mine." "Oh." "Oh." "Baby's first lab coat." "Yay." "Oh." "Uh, is it made of, um...?" "100% cotton, yes." "And did you....?" "And I removed all the buttons, yes." "Choking hazard averted." "A-plus, Abby." " Oh, no!" "You started without me." "Sorry I'm late." "Tony, we thought you forgot." "Au contraire, McFr?" "re." "I wouldn't have missed this." "Been looking forward to it for weeks." "Mama Gremlin, Papa Gremlin, this basket's for you." "Thank you, Tony." "Let's see." "Uh..." "Uh, industrial-grade earplugs?" "Yes, those are gonna come in handy." "Babies are loud." "Bottle of Bordeaux." "And, um... hundred dollars in cash." "Tony, those are terrible gifts." "Never knock the DiNozzo parenting method." "I mean, look how I turned out." "Um, babe?" "Mm?" "Will you please go get me some water?" "Sure, but, you know, actually, the, uh... the pH levels up here are really high, so don't panic." "I have an emergency stash down in Autopsy." "Okay." "Listen up, guys, I need your help." "What's wrong?" "It's Jimmy." "He's driving me crazy." "He-he won't let me eat or drink anything until he checks to make sure it's safe for the baby." "Oh, I mean, he's just being cautious." "All I want is peace and quiet." "And a cheeseburger." "You guys have to help me." "I mean, make up a case or something." "Yeah, it doesn't really work that way." "Grab your gear." "Dead navy lieutenant in Falls Church." "Oh, thank God." "I mean..." "Sorry." "That-That's awful." "What do you got, Duck?" "Uh, gunshot wounds to the chest." "Three by the look of it." "What on earth is holding Mr. Palmer?" "You got anything else?" "Yeah." "It appears our victim engaged in a bout of fisticuffs." "If it was with his killer, we may be able to pull DNA." "Time of death, Duck?" "Uh, around midnight last night." "Boss, we got a boot print." "Shooter didn't police his brass." "Three .22 casings." "Hmm." "Not exactly dealing with a pro." "Well, he was smart enough to use a silencer." "Police had reports of no gunfire." " Victim?" " Navy Lieutenant" "Eric Kutzler, 28." "Seabee assigned him to Naval Support Unit for the State Department." "Witnesses?" "Well, there was the neighbor's dog whose name is "Lockey."" "It's "Loki."" "Loki, as in the prince of Asgard?" "The god of mischief?" "From the Thor comics, Tony." "Thor." "The nerds are taking over." "It's just you and me now, boss." "I'm-I'm gonna go check the... gonna check the house." "I'll question the neighbors." "I'm gonna go take photos someplace else." "Looks like a broken drinking glass." "Could be from a struggle." "But, hmm, nothing else looks tossed." "Not exactly." "Check this out." "Well, that's blood." "From what?" "I think we found the source of our victim's battered knuckles." "You were the first officer on the scene?" "That's correct." "What time was that?" "Uh," "I'm not certain." "I-I got off shift, um, a little after 8:00." "Uh..." "Off shift?" "I checked his vitals... but I knew... he was gone." "You knew the victim?" "He's my husband." "I left for work last night around 7:00, and Eric wa-was fine." "Everything was normal." "He called my cell at around midnight but I didn't get the message till this morning." "Well, if you think of anything, you have my card." "Excuse me a minute." "McGee." "It's Gibbs." "Yeah, I'm on my way." "Kutzler's husband..." "Right." "Jethro." "Hollis." "Leon." "Now that roll call is over, shall we move on to business?" "Hollis was sent by the DoD to assist with your investigation, Gibbs." "Hell of a winter, huh?" "What's, uh, DoD's interest in the case?" "Lieutenant Kutzler." "He'd been on our radar for some time, and I'd been investigating him for the last two weeks." "Investigating him for what?" "He was being vetted." "Lieutenant Kutzler is in consideration for the Medal of Honor." "Gibbs and Hollis Mann, both in the director's office." "You know what this means?" "That she's helping with our case?" "Think bigger picture, Bishop." "You know how on edge Gibbs has been lately." "Well, yeah, since Diane's death, he's had a lot on his mind." "Exactly." "And he's not gonna talk to us about his feelings and emotions." "But Hollis Mann... she speaks his monosyllabic language." "She's our Gibbs whisperer." "Ah." "How did you...?" "Update." "Uh..." "Come on, come on, come on, come on." "Let's go." "Just..." "Our victim is Eric Kutzler, a lieutenant in the Navy Construction Battalion." "I spoke to his supervisor at the State Department." "Kutzler was new to the command, reported there five months ago." "Prior to that, he spent 18 months at Walter Reed, recovering from injuries sustained in Afghanistan." "Click the thing." "Kutzler's Seabees unit was on a humanitarian mission in the Punjab Province when they were ambushed." "And while they were pinned down waiting for air support, an enemy grenade penetrated their ranks." "Kutzler threw himself over it, saving the lives of two of his men." "He jumped on a live grenade and survived?" "Almost didn't." "Kutzler was a fighter." "And a hero." "Who someone was targeting." "Well, Kutzler made a name for himself back in 2011." "He spoke at several rallies in the months leading up to the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell." "Which is why there are so many eyes on his nomination." "Kutzler would be the first openly gay service member to receive the Medal of Honor." "You think this was a hate crime?" "Some people don't like change." "So, where are we on suspects?" "We?" "You're not here to investigate Kutzler's murder." "The DoD has a vested interest in this case, Jethro." "I'll be sticking around." "Blood delivery for Miss Abby Sciuto." "He just walked in." "She's talking to Breena." "Breena says don't be angry, but she went to Beltway Burger." "No!" "Uh-huh." "All right, I'll tell him." "Okay." "Bye, Breena." "What?" "What?" "Tell me what." "Abby, what else?" "What?" "What?" "She didn't..." "It's okay." "Breena's fine." "Breathe." "Good." "Now hurry up and get to the hospital because Breena is in labor." "Jimmy, did you hear what she said?" "She just said Breena's having a baby." "I think you broke him." "What do we do?" "Baby go bag!" "I need my baby go bag!" "Uh, this is not a drill!" "Incoming!" "Father coming through!" "Good luck, Jimmy!" "Good job, Gibbs." "What do we got?" "Uh, Big Brother, or more like" "Big Brother's distant relatives, twice removed." "She means, uh, surveillance footage from Kutzler's next-door neighbor's security system." "His backyard camera had a direct line of sight to where Kutzler was shot." "Do we have the killer on tape?" "On tape?" "Well, no, not tape since, like, the 1990s, but we have footage." "That's all you see." "The killer never faced the camera." "What else?" "Vince Armstrong stated that he arrived home, found Kutzler's body, then he immediately called 911." "We, this footage shows that at 8:26 a.m., he finds the body, goes back into the house, and does not call the police." "911 logs his call at 8:48 a.m." "That's 20 minutes later." "Armstrong lied to us, boss." "Where is he?" "He's with a CACO officer." "I've answered all your questions." "Why aren't you out canvassing the neighborhood?" "Well, here's what's sticking for us, Vince." "You find your husband dead and then you decide to take a 20-minute breather before calling 911... that doesn't look good for you." "I was in shock." "You and Kutzler having issues?" "Any heated arguments between you two?" "Of course... we're married." "Fair enough." "What about that cut under your eye?" "Got it pulling over a drunk driver." "No one's ever taken a swing at you on the job?" "I find that very hard to believe." "You do have a face people naturally dislike." "What?" "Check my dash cam if you don't believe me." "Yeah, we're gonna get to that." "But first, um, why don't you tell us about your discharge from the Marine Corps in 2007?" "What was the reason for the discharge, McGee?" "Conduct unbecoming." "That was it." "What does that have to do with anything?" "That was years ago." "Well," "It says you exhibited a violent temper and made threats against your superior officer." "That's a lie." "All of it." "No temper." "Got it." "Look, I've worked homicides." "I know how critical the first 48 hours are in solving this case." "You're wasting precious time." "I didn't kill my husband." "Let's take a walk." "Oh." "I'm all for some midday cardio, boss, but I just ate and we're in the middle of..." "Not you." "You." "Now, Marine." "I know this interrogation tactic, Agent Gibbs." "Change the location... try to catch the subject off-guard." "How's it working?" "It's not." "Didn't think so." "So where are we going?" "Details were missing from your service record." "So I made a few calls." "You were one squared away Marine." "Top marks, stellar FITREPs, commendations." "Until 2007." "When your command found out you were gay." "I never threatened my C.O." "They trumped up those charges." "Said if I went quietly, they would give me a general discharge instead of a dishonorable one." "I had to think of my future." "Why become a cop?" "All I ever wanted to do was to help people." "Protect." "Serve." "But what's the point if you can't even protect the ones you care about?" "I loved Eric." "I would never hurt him." "See, I think you're hiding something." "I'm guessing it's to protect your partner." "Eric deserves to be remembered a hero." "Nothing should change that." "My job is to find who killed him, not start a witch hunt, and you need to trust me." "When I came home this morning, there was a bag in the kitchen." "I hadn't seen it before." "There was vials and syringes." "I don't know why Eric had them, but they're not his." "How can you be sure of that?" "He had his demons, but drugs wasn't one of them." "I would know." "Where'd you hide them?" "In the garage." "I shouldn't have touched the crime scene, but I knew it would make Eric look bad and I didn't want it to affect his Medal of Honor nomination." "My husband was a good man, Agent Gibbs." "I couldn't save his life." "But please... please... help me protect his memory." "What's the latest, Team Babbs?" "Uh, just got an update from Jimmy." "Breena is still in labor." "He sounded a little freaked." "Jimmy's gonna be a father." "It's like, one day you're just... you're you, and then the next day you're responsible for this living, breathing soul." "I hate to interrupt, Abbs, but Hurricane Gibbs is about to make landfall." "What do you got?" "Kutzler's tox screen... it's clean." "He wasn't on drugs." "What about the narcotics we confiscated from his garage?" "Each vial contains pharmaceutical-grade morphine and fentanyl." "Mixed together, they make one very potent intravenous cocktail." "Which brings me to my next point." "This batch is homemade." "I mean, this distinct color and this labeling... this is somebody's brand." "Hmm." "Somebody who's seen a little too much Breaking Bad." "Miss that show." "Just one vial of this stuff fetches a steep take on the street." "So if Kutzler wasn't taking drugs, maybe he was selling them?" "War hero to drug peddler..." "that's a big shift." "Well, if they weren't Kutzler's drugs, they belonged to someone." "Someone willing to kill for them." "Ah, Hollis, have you seen Jethro?" "I just left word for him." "I have the sneaking suspicion he's trying to avoid me, Doctor." "Did you know the lieutenant well?" "No, we met once, last week." "I was fact-checking his account of the ambush for the nomination." "I could see he was still haunted by it." "Yeah, well, the body can recover physically." "Healing the mind, however, is a little more complex." "Listen, I heard about Diane." "How's Jethro been doing?" "I reached out, but he hasn't returned any of my calls." "Well," "Jethro does prefer to throw himself into his work." "Well, I'm trying to be there for him." "He's not letting me." "A friendship with Jethro does have its share of challenges." "However, I suspect that there may be another reason why he's been keeping us all at a distance." "Ducky, you called me." "Uh, yes, I found something unusual in" "Lieutenant Kutzler's toxicology." "Abby said it was clean." "Well, that's the anomaly." "There are no traces of any medical substances in his bloodstream." "I'm not seeing the problem here, Duck." "When the lieutenant threw himself on that grenade, his body absorbed the force of the explosion." "His torso took the full impact, breaking his ribs and collapsing his lungs." "This flak jacket protected his vital organs from the shrapnel." "The blast blew upwards, fracturing his right arm almost beyond repair." "It severed his jawbone, tore through his right eye socket, and fractured his skull." "Mm." "He suffered catastrophic wounds." "Consequently, he was prescribed with numerous medications to aid in the recovery." "But look, he never filled a single prescription." "He chose to live in constant pain." "Kutzler felt responsible for the men lost in the ambush." "The pain was his punishment for surviving." "Anyone else feel he was at fault?" "No one that I've spoken to so far, but" "Kutzler was apprehensive when I mentioned that I was gonna be talking to the witnesses." "I want the details of that ambush." "The events leading up to it, the casualties, the survivors, every insurgent involved." "Everything." "Of the seven survivors, five were Afghan civilians." "McGee and Dorneget are in MTAC tracking 'em down now." "The remaining two survivors were sailors in Kutzler's Seabee unit." "First is Senior Chief Lansing Donahue, 45, lives in Sea Isle City, New Jersey." "Well, I've already questioned Donahue." "His statement of facts on the incident was pivotal in Kutzler's Medal of Honor consideration." "He's not your guy." "Well, the other survivor is Petty Officer" "Third Class Davis Riley, 28." "Discharged in 2012." "He works in construction now." "Riley's sitting down with me next week." "No." "Today." "Uh, I might have something." "Putting it up now." "In the week prior to the ambush," "Kutzler received a letter of reprimand for disorderly conduct." "There's no mention of that in Kutzler's service record." "That's because it was later retracted by the issuer, his commanding officer," "Rear Admiral Xavier Meade." "Where is Meade now?" "Uh, stationed at the Navy Expedition Combat Command in Norfolk." "Bishop, you're with me." "DiNozzo, you got Hollis." "Kutzler was a fine officer." "Smart, determined." "I'm not surprised he was up for the Medal of Honor." "Is." "Pardon?" "Is." "You said was." "Kutzler... he's still being considered." "Of course." "He went to hell and back for his men." "Damn shame." "Did the two of you get along?" "The lieutenant and I got along as well as any superior officer and subordinate can in the military." "I had no issues with Kutzler." "Except for the letter of reprimand you wrote in his file." "I see you are extremely thorough." "Oh, yeah." "She's good like that." "You're also way off base." "Enlighten us." "When Kutzler's unit arrived in Afghanistan, there were growing pains." "Some men took issue with his open homosexuality." "Don't Ask Don't Tell had already been repealed." "Kutzler was within his rights to be out." "I agree." "But changing a law doesn't suddenly change people's beliefs." "What happened?" "He and a fellow sailor exchanged words in the chow line, a brawl ensued." "Being an officer, Kutzler was held to a higher standard." "Written reprimand was protocol." "So why'd you later pull it from his record?" "It didn't sit well with me." "A reprimand like that would have ruined Kutzler's career." "I retracted it, gave him a verbal warning instead." "What about the sailor he fought with?" "Petty Officer Davis Riley." "No love lost between those two." "I kind of love the smell of construction." "Lumber and sawdust." "It's kind of like Gibbs' basement." "Speaking of Gibbs..." "Subtle, DiNozzo." "Normally we would rely on Fornell to bring Gibbs back to his general disgruntled self, but Tobias isn't really an option these days." "Look, I'm his friend." "I'm not his shrink." "I can't force him to talk to me." "Sure you can." "You can be persuasive." "Davis Riley?" "Can I help you?" "NCIS." "Hollis Mann, DoD." "We spoke on the phone earlier." "Oh, right, yeah." "Uh, I thought we were meeting next week." "Change of plans." "Where we you last night around midnight?" "Uh..." "I was at my apartment, asleep." "Any witnesses?" "To me sleeping?" "Am I missing something?" "I thought you wanted to talk to me about Kutzler's nomination packet." "I did." "Yes." "And she's going to, but..." "I'd like to talk to you about his murder." "Murder?" "Lieutenant Kutzler was shot and killed last night." "Oh, my God." "I..." "I'm gonna be sick." "I hated everything about Kutzler." "I didn't understand him." "Didn't want to." "I just wanted him gone." "Is this a confession?" "Of the old me." "I'm not that guy anymore;" "I've changed." "What a miraculous and conveniently timed change of heart." "Afghanistan was a wake-up call... there was nothing convenient about it." "One minute... we're laying foundation for a school, the next, we're pinned down by insurgents, taking heavy fire." "Five of our guys fall before they can even get to cover." "Chief and I were hit but not critical." "Kutzler was applying my tourniquet... when we saw the grenade." "He didn't hesitate." "Not even for a split second." "He just... dove on top of it." "After that, I saw Kutzler for what he was... a hero." "Why else would I put him up for the Medal of Honor?" "Kutzler's nomination packet was initiated by Senator Gundersen." "There's no statement of yours on file." "How-how is that..." "even possible?" "Chief Donahue and I routed that up our chain of command back in 2012." "Military award packets don't just... disappear." "I don't suppose you have any proof?" "Well, I didn't make a copy, if that's what you mean." "Ask Chief Donahue..." "he can vouch for me." "Kutzler saved my life." "I was trying to do right by him." "I... yes, sir, I believe that's a bit premature, but it..." "Yes, sir." "Yes, I understand, but our agents are working around the clock to..." "Yes, sir." "I understand." "Secretary of Defense." "The press got wind that a potential Medal of Honor nominee was found dead with illegal narcotics in his possession." "How?" "That's the million- dollar question, Gibbs." "News outlets are running with the story." "We don't even know what the story is yet." "That's never stopped the press before." "And that's not all." "They're not canceling Kutzler's nomination?" "This case has got a lot of people on the Hill extremely nervous." "Tarnishing the nation's highest honor is not an acceptable risk." "Neither is tarnishing a naval officer's reputation." "I don't like it any more than you do." "DoD's giving us 48 hours to clear" "Kutzler's name." "After that, it's out of our hands." "Oh, this is bad, Tony." "This is really, really bad." "Okay." "We're at DEFCON 1, McGee." "Let's raise the Gibbs Threat Level." "I grabbed every newspaper in the building." "All right, let's huddle up." "So our mission now is damage control." "What we need to do is stick together..." "this, too, shall pass." " Hey, where are we?" " Albatross." "You're all just standing around." "You'd better have an update." "Yeah." "Well, we're, we're still tracking Kutzler's movements the night of the murder." "No witnesses saw him after 7:00 p.m., no credit card charges, and his cell phone pinged from the same location all day." "His home." "Doesn't look like" "Kutzler ever left, boss." "Abby's working on his vehicle's GPS, but..." "But?" "Where is Hollis Mann?" "I..." "I think she went back to the DoD." "You think?" "What do you..." "what do you mean... you think?" "Uh..." "We've been at this all night." "Uh, we're all a little tired..." "why don't we take a break, get some air?" "No, there is no break." "There's no breaks until this case breaks." "Never get personally involved in a case... you're breaking rule number ten, boss." "You're damn right I am, DiNozzo." "Do you have a problem with that?" "Boss..." "Uh, boss?" "Is this what you meant when you said trust you, Agent Gibbs?" "Our office had nothing to do with that." "They're dragging Eric's name through the mud... it is exactly what I was afraid would happen." "Why don't we take this to the conference room?" "No, no, no." "There's nothing to talk about." "The damage is already done." "I thought you were a man of honor." "You got me." "Hey, but what's one dead gay sailor, right?" "Oh, no." "Poor Gibbs." "Maybe I should go give him a hug." "I think he'd prefer a lead, Abby." "I can help with that, too." "Did you get anything from Kutzler's GPS system?" "I did." "So, Kutzler did leave his house the night of the murder, but he didn't use his vehicle's navigation function." "Turns out this particular software, it receives hourly satellite updates and it generates a log." "At 8:45, the update places" "Kutzler's vehicle at his residence." "At 9:45 and 10:45, he's at a location in Berwyn, Maryland." "And at 11:45, he's back at his house." "What's the location in Maryland?" "The Berwyn Community" "Outreach Center." "Excellent." "Thank you, Abby." "Excuse me." "Bestow an angel!" "What's your name, bright eyes?" "She's Special Agent Bishop." "I'm Special Agent DiNozzo." ""Mat."" "You're missing a "T" there, buddy." "Like "doormat"?" "I dropped the second "T" years ago." "Life's not about conforming to society's phallocentric norms." "Homemade gluten-free vegan cinnamon scone?" "Ooh." "No." "Are you nuts?" "Never take cookies or movie advice from a hipster." "Two guys out front both recognize Kutzler's photo." "They said he's a regular." "Let me ask you, Doormat, have you and your nonprescription glasses seen this guy?" "Uh... sure." "I know the face." "He attends our nightly 9:30 meeting." "Meeting for what?" "Addictions Anonymous." "I haven't seen him since Sunday night, though." "He was pretty heated when he left." "Define "heated."" "Uh, I saw him out in the parking lot with some guy from his group." "They were... yelling about something..." "I don't know, I..." "I try to mind my own business." "This other guy have a name?" "Well, we're not exactly following each other's" "Instagram accounts around here." "It's Addictions Anonymous." "Excuse me." "Doesn't make any sense." "Kutzler wasn't an addict." "Why would he attend these meetings?" "And why would he be carrying around a stash of illegal narcotics?" "He's pulling a Badger." "He's selling narcotics to recovering addicts." "It's like shooting fish in a barrel." "Except this time the fish shot back." "Maybe the one Kutzler was arguing with." "We could ask Mat to call us if our mystery man comes back." "You want to be the one to tell Gibbs we got nothing?" "All right." "Good point." "Well, you know what this means." "Stakeout." "It's a no-strings-attached cup of coffee, Jethro." "I got it at the diner, so take it." "Is that better?" "No." "Well, this might help." "Davis Riley was telling the truth." "Kutzler was submitted for the Medal of Honor back in 2012." "And his packet didn't just slip through the cracks." "Someone buried it." "Mm-hmm." "So I did some digging... and I found a familiar name." "You're not seriously accusing me of having something to do with Lieutenant Kutzler's death?" "No, no." "We checked your alibi, and it's rock solid." "Well, I'm glad we cleared that up." "Am I free to go now?" "No." "You're not free to go." "Sit down." "I'd watch your tone, Agent Gibbs." "I don't think SECNAV would appreciate" "NCIS treating an admiral like a criminal." "Oh, we already talked to SECNAV." "Mm-hmm." "How did she phrase it?" "Uh, "nail the son of a bitch."" "For what?" "Killing Lieutenant Kutzler's first Medal of Honor nomination." "I have no idea what you're talking about." "The packet was routed through your chain of command in 2012, Admiral." "Then it must have got lost in the shuffle before it reached my desk." "Because it never did." "And I assure you," "I will look into it." "Oh, no, we already did." "Yeah, we put in a call to the U.S. forces in Afghanistan, spoke to the yeoman who was assigned to your desk, who cataloged all your incoming routing sheets." "And yes, here it is." ""Subject:" ""Medal of Honor awards packet" ""for one Lieutenant Eric James Kutzler." "Delivered to the office of Admiral Xavier Meade."" "November 1, 2012." "Easy enough to make that disappear..." "no one was tracking it." "Oh, yeah, but then Senator Gundersen comes along with her nomination." "I mean, you couldn't very well bury it again." "Not with so many political eyes on it." "You sandbagged your own officer because he was gay." "Kutzler's not the only homosexual" "I've had in my command." "My sailors' personal lives are their own business." "All I care about is that they do their jobs." "Yeah, a job you made sure they don't succeed at." "Since 2011, you've given subpar FITREP scores to every openly gay sailor who's served under you." "Do you feel the walls closing in yet?" "You lied under oath." "You tampered with official government documents." "You interfered with a criminal investigation." "I'm not saying another word." "I want a lawyer." "Yep." "A leader looks after his men." "Fights for 'em." "That's who Lieutenant Kutzler was." "You're a disgrace to that uniform." "And I look forward to testifying at your court-martial." "That's yellow jacket's fifth cigarette." "I can't take it much more." "You should see McGee's pipe collection." "I only use those for creative purposes." "Is that..." "Davis Riley?" "Sure is." "Guess Riley forgot to mention him and Kutzler attended the same Addicts Anonymous meetings." "Guy's got more secrets than a slumber party." "All right, McGee, it's time for an intervention." "Keep clicking, probie." "Don't eat all the cookies." "Hey, Riley." "Remember me?" "Whoa, whoa, whoa." "Your backpack." "Mind if I take a look inside?" "I think that was a yes." "What do you know?" "Looks like you're gonna be spending the night at Chateau NCIS." "Let's go." "Oh, I don't feel so good." "Here we go again." "McGee, back up." "Tony, I don't think he's breathing." "Bishop, call 911!" "Riley's in stable condition, and McGee's standing by at the hospital." "Yeah." "Already knew that." "Heard you were back building boats." "What are you gonna name this one?" "I'm not leaving, Jethro." "Not until you talk to me." "Talk about what?" "You." "Your least favorite topic." "No, I'm-I'm doing fine." "Don't tell me you're fine." "I know you're not." "Hollis, it's late." "Go home." "It's your fault Diane's dead." "That's what you're thinking." "I'm not wrong." "You didn't pull the trigger." "I put her in the crosshairs." "He wanted to make it personal!" "Still does." "I'm figuring it out." "But you being around me makes you a target." "So that's why you're shutting me out?" "To protect me?" "I don't need you mixed up in this." "I don't need you mixed up in me!" "It's not your call." "I'll take my chances." "I can handle myself." "Hmm?" "Copy that." "No, I'm not letting you off that easy." "After the ambush, people kept telling me how lucky I was to be alive." "The truth is, death would have been so much easier." "Instead," "I relive that awful day every single day." "I see my friends die again and again." "And that damn grenade..." "I just stood there, frozen, while Kutzler threw himself over it." "I can still hear the sound as it went off and the damage that it did to him." "I can't get that image out of my head." "That's why you started using?" "I just wanted to forget." "How was Kutzler involved?" "He... saw how bad it got and stepped in." "He got me in the program, went with me to meetings." "He saved my life a second time." "When did you relapse?" "Three days ago." "When I didn't show up to the group session," "Kutzler came to my apartment, and, uh... he saw that I was high." "All I really remember is that he was angry." "He took my stash and stormed out." "GPS puts him at the community center later that night." "Why'd he go back?" "I must have told him who I got the drugs from." "Eric probably went there to confront him." "Who's that?" "The guy at the front desk." "Mat Jebson." "You're not serious." "I'm totally serious." "I swear." "Hey, Mat." "Mat, what's up, man?" "Hey, uh," "Bishop was just telling me this story." "It is hilarious, and you're gonna get a kick out of it." "Tell him." "So," "Agent McGee and I were searching your apartment, and we found your makeshift drug lab, along with hundreds of vials of morphine and fentanyl, just..." "like this." "Hilarious, right?" "So here's what we think happened." "Riley spills the beans about you selling drugs to addicts at the center." "Kutzler threatens to turn you in, so you follow him home and put three rounds in him." "Am I right?" "You made money exploiting people who needed help." "Looking for this?" "Already searched your trunk." "Found a .22" "with a silencer." "Hey, isn't that the same weapon used to kill Lieutenant Kutzler?" "Yes, it certainly is." "Spoiler alert, Heisenberg, it doesn't end well for you." "I want to apologize for what I said the other day." "I was out of line." "Eric's name was cleared, his killer brought to justice." "That's all that matters." "His, um, Medal of Honor nomination would have never been endorsed without your help, Agent Gibbs." "Thank you, sincerely." "When's it official?" "The White House should be making an announcement in a few days." "A hero finally gets his due." "You know, Eric never saw himself as a hero." "He would often come here to remember his men, the ones he couldn't save." "Said it was his duty to never forget their sacrifice." "That's how he chose to honor them." "I'll have to find a way to do the same for him." "Continue his legacy." "Your husband died doing the same thing he did in Afghanistan, fighting to save a friend's life." "He wouldn't leave a man behind." "Finish the mission." "Did you hear anything?" "* Lift up your head, let it all start *" "You guys." "What?" "What?" "What?" "What?" "What?" "What?" "What?" "* Today is the day you return to your heart *" "Yay." "I never meant for any of this to happen." "Eric should have just let me die in Afghanistan." "That's not who he was." "And I'm not that way either." "Why would you want to help me?" "He's dead because of me." "I'm not worth saving." "Eric thought you were." "And, hey, it's not gonna be easy, but... you won't go through this alone." "Oh, she's perfect." "A chip off the old block." "Has that new baby smell." "Congratulations, you guys." "And what is this fair beauty's name?" "She's sort of named after you, Doctor." "I beg your pardon?" "Say hello to Victoria Elizabeth Palmer." "Mother... would be thrilled." "As I am." "Jimmy, what happened to your hand?" "Oh." "Funny story." "Uh, did you know that epidurals don't work on five percent of patients?" "I sure didn't." "I had to improvise with my pain management." "You broke his finger?" "She sure did." "Two, actually." "But it was worth it." "Spoken like a true parent." "* I will never let you go *" "* We're going home *" "* We're going home. *" "== sync, corrected by elderman == @elder_man"