Donna Kauffman on 'NCIS': Never date a co-worker?

Another week, another new episode (yay!) as we wind our way inexorably closer to the season finale, which arrives next month (boo!) whether we want it to or not. Senior makes another appearance tonight, as does ATF agent and Tony's Main Squeeze Zoe Keates. So, for now, we can pretend we're a long way from that NCIS Wasteland otherwise known as summer. Who's our unfortunate murder of the week? And how does Senior finagle his way into the case? Because we know he will … so let's get right to finding that out, shall we?

We open with a crew working on the community service cleanup gang, with Younger Criminal griping to Older Criminal about the injustices of life. YC recognizes OC as a politician who got some jail time for getting caught with a hooker. OC isn't all that keen on chatting about it, then notices a motorcycle lying on its side in the grass … and the dead body just beyond it.

Cue opening credits and awesome theme song!

Back at the Special Agent Bullpen of Orangey Goodness, McGee and Bishop exit the elevator discussing the vagaries of re-entry for long-distance relationships, only to encounter a quite chipper Tony, who reveals his dad (aka Senior) is back from his European wingding and coming for a visit, during which he'll meet ATF Agent Zoe. Bishop is surprised by this given Tony put off meeting Zoe's folks, but he proclaims their relationship to be "in a really good place" and … hey, hey, hey! About time, Junior! Naturally Gibbs enters explaining that they're actually in the wrong place, as there is a dead Marine waiting on their super sleuthing skills. Or, you know, words to that effect. A lot less words. Because, well, Gibbs.

At the scene of the death, Bishop comments that bike left the road at considerable speed and Gibbs notes that there were no skid marks on the road, so there didn't appear to be another vehicle involved. Bishop wonders if someone can fall asleep on a motorcycle, while Ducky looks over the dead Marine. Palmer asks the good doctor if he misses his motorcycle and Ducky sighs in remembered bliss, commenting that it was a real "chick magnet. Like moths to a flame." Ha! Palmer ponders his desire for a scooter (much more Palmer's speed) but thinks his wife would say no given his daddyhood and all. Ducky tells him to hold tight to his wife, prompting a bit of a poignant moment. Gibbs enters, wanting to know time of death, which Dr. Chick Magnet puts at four that morning, with a broken neck being the cause. None of which explains that nasty bullet wound in his chest.

Back at the Screen of All Knowing, we learn that our Dead Lance Corporal had baseball scholarships but always wanted to be a Marine. DLC's life in review is interrupted when Senior arrives, charms his way through the room, and gets an apartment key from Junior. All seems happy and good between father and son. Too happy and good. So we know that won't last. Down in Abby Lab, Gibbs enters to find her in the midst of spring cleaning. She offers to help him experience the pleasures of rebirth and renewal by assisting him in going through all the stuff in his basement. Yeah. You can imagine how that went over. Back to the case, Ducky extracted an intact bullet from DLC, which Abby has tracked down. Turns out it was used in a gun purchased by the ATF. Ruh roh. Fade to black and white.

We return to ATF Agent Zoe in a meeting with Director Vance and Gibbs, discussing the Fast and Furious scheme run by the ATF where they allowed weapons to be purchased in Mexico with the hopes of tracking them back to drug cartels. The scheme was a spectacular failure, ultimately allowing 1,300 weapons to go missing in Mexico, one of which appears to have traveled to the U.S. to be used in the murder of our DLC. Agent Zoe has been assigned to help them with the case. Convenient. Vance cautions Gibbs to use caution given the embarrassment of that particular project, and we all know how Gibbs uses caution when dead Marines are involved.

We get a brief Tony and Zoe tête-à-tête at the bullpen as he calms her meet-the-parent nerves. I want to tell her, hey, it's Senior, and you're gorgeous. A slam dunk, really, no cause for concern there. Gibbs corrals Tony back to the bullpen where we learn that DLC was well liked, no enemies. He was infantry, no access to top-level security info. He was headed from his parents' home back to Norfolk when he was killed. Tony and Zoe team up to go talk to ATF agents about the history of the gun that was used, while McGee and Bishop pair up to work more on finding out about the cause of the accident — Team McBishop, Abby calls them. Ha! Abby says DLC was traveling at about 50-60 mph and given the distance the bike landed from the road, it went off-road at full speed. The gun residue shows the bullet was fired from two to three feet away, meaning it likely came from a vehicle running parallel to the motorcycle. She also determines the gas tank on the bike was essentially empty, and that he'd passed a gas station just a few miles before the scene of the crash, so why not stop there?

We bounce back to our Cute Couple who are disagreeing on whether to question agents from the failed Fast and Furious scheme. Tony wants to go in, well, fast and furious, while Zoe wants to finesse her personal connections. Tony wonders if they are having their first argument. I'm wondering why he thought working together was a good idea. He tells her to trust him, which is when, she says, she always does the exact opposite. Back at the gas station, Team McBishop find out from the station owner that someone swiped a credit card right around time of death, but didn't use it. They check video footage, see DLC stop to fill his tank, then leave before doing so, clearly following a car that had just fueled up.

We return to a still-bickering Zoe and Tony, with Zoe pulling an "I told you so" as apparently Tony's manner of doing it his way with the ATF agents netted them nothing. They are heading to his apartment to get Senior and do the dinner thing, only the sound of the smoke alarm coming from his place sends Tony in, well, fast and furious. Turns out, Senior is having a classic Senior Moment, trying to make dinner and all but burning the place down. Rearranged furniture has Tony pulling a Dick Van Dyke over the hassock on his way to open a window, and he reverts to full-on irritation with all things Senior — more than is called for in the situation, but it's an accumulation thing, we're supposed to believe. Senior is busy being all charming to the lovely Zoe as expected, while she takes one look at the entire scene, and, to my mind, her significant other being really rude to his father, and wants to opt out. Me, too! Tony begs her not to leave him with "Wreck-it Ralph" which does get a begrudging smile from me, but all and all this seems a bit of a manufactured conflict. I get there is tension with the happy couple, which adds to Tony's base fears of his ability or lack thereof to have a good relationship with someone, so sort of that self-fulfilling prophecy thing with the over-the-top reaction, but still.

Back at Abby Lab with McBishop, Abby examines the video and determines there was a woman in the passenger seat of the car that DLC followed out of the gas station. She can be seen mouthing "help me," which answers at least one question. Fade to black and white.

We return to the bullpen where we learn from McBishop that the car in question is registered to a woman, but one who looks older than the blonde seen in the video. They can't see the driver at all. Tony enters regaling them with his family dysfunction being on full display to Agent Zoe, ending with his father leaving to stay elsewhere, presumably his favorite hotel. Gibbs corrects this assumption, saying that Senior actually ended up bunking with him. In Gibbs' bed (we all know Gibbs sleeps on the couch) and Gibbs blames Tony. Ruh roh. Zoe is up in MTAC for an on-screen meeting with her ATF contact in Arizona and has requested Tony's presence. He implores Gibbs to allow him to retroactively invoke Rule 12 — never date a co-worker — and they send up McGee instead.

In MTAC, Zoe, Vance and now McGee talk to her ATF contact, who seems a little insulted by the question on the gun, but says he'll do what he can to find out any info, then cuts transmission. Vance exits, leaving Zoe to question McGee on why Tony didn't come up. He prevaricates that Tony is tied up doing something with Gibbs, but when she presses with the piercing ATF agent gaze, McGee opts to exit stage left as well.

Meanwhile, Gibbs and Bishop meet the woman who owns the car. She tells them her daughter has had the car for a while, that daughter has been in and out of rehab and she's pretty sure her daughter is using again. Daughter doesn't have a cell phone and she has no idea who the guy driving her car might be. Back in HQ, McGee has a BOLO on car, has discovered that Daughter has had no contact with her rehab sponsor, when Zoe comes in. She heard back from her ATF contact who has no additional info to offer. Tony thinks ATF guy is stonewalling, and McGee, having met the guy via MTAC, seconds Tony's summation. Zoe asks Tony why he wasn't in MTAC, and his story doesn't match McGee's. She wants to know if the two of them have a problem, and Tony asks why she thinks they do. She says because he's lying then uses that "trust me" line in defending her ATF buddy, that he'd help them if he could. Prompting a small smile from Tony, regarding that whole "trust me" thing.

Back at Gibbs' house, Senior is drinking Gibbs' best scotch. Hasn't eaten, just drinking. Gibbs asks him if he wants to talk it out. Senior tells him his time overseas was a wash-out, with his old ties gone or dried up. Came back to New York, but his old contacts are either retired and living it up with their grandkids, in senior homes, or passed on. Gibbs comments that he's in a new phase of his life, to which Senior says he's come to realize that what he wants now is to be closer to his son. Gibbs reveals he wishes he'd been closer to his dad near the end, that he tried to get his father to move in with him, but he was a stubborn sort. He says he regrets that he didn't push harder than he did. Senior says he messed up, always does, and that Tony has made it clear he wants him gone. Gibbs takes a call and meets up with Bishop where they've found the car in a back alley. Inside the car, they find the daughter, dead. Fade to black and white.

Back at the crime scene, we learn Daughter's time of death was earlier that evening … so where was she in the time frame between then and her car being seen on that gas station video? He sends McBishop off to follow that up, and tags Tony to come with him. Next we see, he's entering his house, Tony in tow. Senior is surprised to see him. Gibbs looks between father and son, says he's going to his basement to unwind. "Be gone when I come back up." Ah, classic Gibbs family therapy counseling. Gibbs exits, and Tony tells Senior that Gibbs explained everything to him on the way over, that he wants to help Senior find an apartment. Senior says how he should have called in advance and Tony makes a small joke about the impulsiveness of the DiNozzo men, then apologizes. Senior says he's not sure Tony really is sorry, that he wasn't around when Tony needed help, so why assume his son would want to take care of him. Tony brushes it off as ancient history, then watches his father shuffle upstairs to get his things, emotion making his eyes a bit glassy. Oh, DiNozzo men, you get us every time!

Back at Ducky's Digs, Palmer is having a hard time looking at the results of Daughter's chronic drug use and Ducky opines that being a father has given him a different perspective on their victims. Gibbs enters and Ducky says cause of death appears to be drug overdose but also did a sexual assault kit on her, which Abby now has. Back in the bullpen, Tony and Bishop are going to head back to where the car was found, in case they can find any bits of evidence they missed the night before. McGee says the car was so old there was no navigation system on it, so no way to tell where it had been. Bishop said no fingerprints, that they found hand sanitizer on it, as if someone had tried to wipe it down. She heads out, but Tony pauses by Gibbs' desk to thank him for the father-son intervention. He says that Senior is moving to the area so Tony can keep an eye on him. "Good idea," says Gibbs, then smiles as Tony exits. Nice moment.

Back in Junior's apartment, Senior is setting the furniture to rights as Zoe comes in, looking for her lost sunglasses. Senior comments how she has a key, and he doesn't. Awkward! Zoe heads off to look for her missing shades, but pauses to clarify that Senior isn't bothered that she has a key. He assures her he's not, that he's happy to see his son in a committed relationship. He notes the R word gave her some pause, then tells her he never set a very good example for his son in that regard, that he committed too freely and fears because of that his son has done the opposite. And we all collectively hold our breath, hoping he doesn't say something to ruin the really good thing Tony finally has going. Alas, he is simply honest, saying he is happy to see his son is changing, making a commitment, happy that he's done so with Zoe. All good, but a clearly uncomfortable Zoe smiles, makes her excuses and exits. Hmm …

Back at HQ, Vance has joined Gibbs and McGee at the Screen of All Knowing, as they discuss whether or not Daughter did the drug taking, or was OD'd by someone else, when Abby comes rushing in, all five-Gibbs and three-directors. She got a DNA match on the sexual assault kit Ducky ran, and the guy matches the description from the gas station video. McGee does a background on him and finds a former bust for firearm trafficking, and in the photo of his arrest, well lookee there, it's Zoe's unhelpful ATF contact, prompting Vance to wonder why he didn't mention it. Fade to black and white.

Back in the bullpen, McGee is bringing Tony and Bishop up to speed, saying they have very little on their suspect and no response from ATF Agent Stonewall. Our perp's last known address was in Arizona four years earlier, and since then he's been completely off the radar. No sign he's been in D.C. at all, other than the DNA evidence in Dead Daughter. McGee figures he might have been involved in something in Arizona just as Senior enters the bullpen with great news! He found an apartment. Right in Junior's building. One floor up. Imagine Tony's joy. No, you'll have to work a little harder than that.

Upstairs Vance, Gibbs and Zoe are talking to ATF Stonewall via MTAC, who explains that they'd busted our perp for the unlawful gun sale just as they were mounting the Fast and Furious campaign and needed credible buyers for the scheme, so they made a deal with the perp. He gets off on the gun charge, goes to work for them. He led them to believe the gun in question went to a drug cartel, then the whole Fast and Furious sting went south and the ATF lost track of him and the gun. No word in the five years since. He had no idea the guy was in the DC area. Vance tells him to stay available, then ends transmission. They ask Zoe if she still trusts the guy, she says she does, then opines that if the perp is in the area, he's likely doing what he does best, running guns. She has an informant she's been working with, so goes to find out if he knows anything.

Back in Ducky's Digs, Daughter's mom is there to give positive ID on the body. She wants to know if the Marine who tried to help her is still there, but is told his remains were returned to his family. Mom says her daughter had a college fund set up by family that, due to her drug troubles, she never used and would like to donate it to Marines in need. Ducky steers her toward a Marine scholarship program. Something good, perhaps, from a lot of sad.

Meantime, an agitated Vance is on the phone with a very unhappy and what sounds like uncooperative ATF director as they try to track down the perp. That call ends as Zoe comes in, saying her informant paid off. Perp is in the area, is selling guns to drug dealers, but has also become a drug addict himself, thereby making him more dangerous. No location on the perp, though, so Gibbs asks Zoe to get her informant to set up a gun buy.

Tony and Gibbs are on stakeout in the park, watching McGee below, waiting to make the gun buy. "Worst casting since Kevin Costner in Robin Hood," quips Tony, letting his binoculars linger on a particularly buxom jogger. He wonders what the girls are talking about over in the other stakeout car. Shift to Bishop and Zoe, as Bishop notes that their gun dealer is late. Zoe notes that strung-out gun dealers aren't exactly the most reliable, then asks Bishop if Tony has any problems working with her. Bishop just comments that Tony is a complicated guy, prompting Zoe to remark that she thinks things have changed somehow, then tells Bishop about her run-in with Senior and his remark about being glad Tony has made a commitment to her. We cut back to Gibbs and Tony as the latter's phone rings. It's Senior, and Tony opts not to answer, saying he knows his father wants to be close, but that having him living in the same building "would be the end of my life as I know it." Heh. Also, true. Gibbs tells him he has to talk to him, tell him what he's thinking. He agrees, but says it's a complicated time, and ponders if the honeymoon phase is over in his relationship with Zoe. Does all this seem kind of manufactured to you? Does me. I mean, I get the complication of family, of work, all that is valid, but this seems kind of shoved forward a bit. Then a call comes in over their walkie-talkies, that Tony might want to remember that the link between cars is open. Ruh roh. Zoe smiles, takes the walkie-talkie and calls him DiNozzo as she tells him his father isn't the only one he needs to communicate with. Oh boy. Tony asks if they can defer that convo until later as McGee pipes in, wondering if anyone is paying attention to him, given someone matching the perp's description is coming in on a bicycle.

Bishop sees two mounted police coming in from a different angle, alerts Gibbs, who tells her to intercept them, tell them what's up, and that Gibbs and Tony are going in to make the bust. Perp spooks, tries to run, wrecks his bicycle, stumbles over rocks, as Tony and Gibbs stop, get out, pull weapons. Perp runs/stumbles up a hill, turns, gun out, and well, we all know where that gets him. Sniper Gibbs puts two in the chest, perp is down, game over. The gun he was using matches the murder weapon, and they find another on him, apparently the one he was going to sell. Gibbs takes both of them.

It's dark when Zoe and Tony pull up in front of Tony's apartment building as Tony is saying he's glad they talked. Zoe says they aren't done yet, but she's glad they're good. Tony apologizes for the situation with his dad and she comments that he can't blame everything on his father. He gets that, then asks if her comment about needing to talk more indicates anything serious. She says no, she wants them to work. He agrees. An endearing moment of Tony seat belt entanglement, then a lovely kiss to patch things up. He invites her up, she smiles, says he's on his own with Senior. He enters his apartment to find dad sipping a drink in front of the fire and is invited to join him. Some chitchat ensues, then Tony sits, tells his dad they need to talk. Senior talks first, and tells Tony he realizes he was thinking only of himself with the whole apartment-in-the-same-building thing, and that he will be near him, but not quite that near. A surprised and thankful Tony smiles, and they tap glasses. He invites Senior to stay with him for the weekend so he can help him look for a place. Senior wants to know if there are any "swanky senior residences in the area." Ha! Tony wants to know if his father is ready for that. Senior says he hears those places are full of attractive, rich widows. Oh, Senior. Never disappoints! Fade to black and white.

Another enjoyable evening spent with our crew of Very Special Agents + Dad. With only four new episodes left in season 12, I'm starting to wonder where these next weeks will take us, as we head toward the inevitable season ender.

You might also be wondering who won those books I put up for grabs last week. That's a question I can answer! All three of my Bachelors of Blueberry Cove books were up on the giveaway table. I sincerely appreciate the enthusiasm and the kind words, about my books and the recaps, in your notes, not to mention all the delicious NCIS dish. Opinions always welcome! OK, let's get to it. Many of you really wanted to start with book one of the series, so how about three winners for a copy of Pelican Point? Julie T. Byers, Stephanie Conklin and Deb Carter, come on down! Taking home a copy of Half Moon Harbor, will be Teresa Singler! And last, but not least to the table, Shari Bartholomew gets a signed copy of Sandpiper Island! Thanks again to everyone for entering. Winners, drop me an e-mail to dmkauffman1@gmail.com with an address and your prizes will go out in the mail to you.

For all the rest of you, never fear! I have a new book coming out on May 26 that launches The Brides of Blueberry Cove miniseries. It just so happens I have an advance review copy of Sea Glass Sunrise in my hot little hands, and I want to put in in your hot little hands. Be the envy of all your friends and neighbors, waving around your copy a full month before they can get one. Feel free to be a little smug with those certain neighbors — you know the ones — and tell them we're all BFF's, watching NCIS together every week. I'll totally back you up. Sound good? Drop me a line at dmkauffman1@gmail.com with "Sea Glass Sunrise and smug bragging rights? I'm in!" in the subject line. I'll draw a name and announce it here when we return next week!

In the meantime, drop by my Facebook Fan Page for the day-to-day frivolity and additional giveaways. The time will pass right by before you know it!