Trama

A lance corporal collapses and dies on an obstacle course at the MCB, Quantico, Virginia; Gibbs and company investigate; Ducky sees many wounds. Another injured Marine dies. The team figure it out. Vance finds and solves personal business.

A lance corporal collapses and dies on an obstacle course at the Marine Corps Base, Quantico, Virginia; Gibbs and company investigate; Duck and the others see numerous wounds (as though from beatings) on the body. While Vance remains on leave, he makes some discoveries. Gibbs and Ducky learn separately about the victim's history of fighting; the gang determine the nature and the location of the fighting. Vance returns to work as a member of the Gibbs team. Gibbs and Vance interview at Quantico; Abby figures out a piece of the puzzle but not another one; Vance and Gibbs chat, as do Vance and Ziva. Gibbs and McGee find a dead private first-class with multiple wounds; Duck and Gibbs compare notes, then McGee finds details in medical records, and Ducky makes an astute observation. Gibbs and Vance confront the man responsible for the wounds and hear his explanation; then the two of them talk in the basement, and Gibbs helps Vance to understand family matters.—DocRushing

A Marine leads the pack on a training course, but at the top of the wall, he starts bleeding from his nose, falls and dies.

At the office, the team complains about NCIS Deputy Director Jerome Craig (Greg Germann), who's been filling in for Vance for two months now. Gibbs interrupts with the body of the week: a dead Marine at Quantico. But first, Jerome Craig pesters Gibbs to see if he has heard anything about when Vance might return.

At home alone, Vance remembers Eli David's toast with his family, the night he and his wife were killed. Going through his wife's files, he finds a bank statement with a huge balance and keys to a safe deposit box.

On the obstacle course, the victim is Lance Cpl Gabe Crow, 23. He has defensive wounds on his hands, bruises on his head and weird cuts on his leg.

At the bank, Vance can't close out the account because it's in Jackie's name only. He checks out the safe deposit box, which contains their marriage certificate, some of her jewelry and files from Mathison & Burke law offices and a big wad of $100 bills.

The victim rundown back at NCIS: Crow was raised by a single mom, was training for weapons tech, about to deploy on his first tour and had a spotless record. He spent time in juvie as a teenager but graduated at the top of his college class. McGee finds chat room records. Crow's mother got a call from him three days ago and said he sounded "agitated." He was sending her cash to help with her mortgage.

Private David Holland from Quantico comes to talk to Gibbs. Crow was involved in illegal backroom fighting in clubs in DC. Holland saw him sneak off base last night and come back beat up after midnight.

Vance goes to talk to Jackie's lawyer, Abe Mathison, who drew up the documents to separate their property. The lawyer can't tell Leon anything other than she hired him last May.

Vance leaves and calls someone to pick his kids up at school.

In the morgue, Duckie reports Crow had 13 wounds over the past few days or week. He died of cerebral hemorrhage from taking repeated hits to the head. The weird marks on his legs are older puncture wounds. He also had a stitched up wound in his side with plastic in it. His nails were split, meaning his killer will have wounds.

Gibbs worries about Vance.

Back in the office, they watch street fighting videos and find deposits to Crow's account after the fights. There's a sign for Williams Fruit Company in the video.

Jerome Craig comes to Gibbs with messages that the base commander has called three times about the investigation into Crow's death. Vance shows up, announcing he's ready to work -- on the floor with Gibbs' NCIS team. Gibbs gently questions his motives and the team makes room for him.

At the fruit company, Gibbs and Tony talk to Ruben Williams, the owner, who knows nothing about the fight club. He recognizes one of his employees from the video as "Chucky Bang," a giant Samoan.

Back in interrogation, Chucky recognizes Crow's photo but says he hasn't seen him for three months. He says he was in the ER last night with digestive issues, but they notice his hands are covered in cuts. He says Crow quit fighting, but was good at it.

Tony confirms Chucky's alibi. Vance pipes up, saying Holland was written up twice for fighting with Crow, including three days before he died. Holland called for the ambulance, but not until 30 minutes after Crow died.

Vance and Gibbs pick Holland up from Quantico. Back at NCIS in interrogation, Holland says the write ups on his behavior are wrong and they called the paramedics late because they were trying to save him. He doesn't have any scratches or wounds on his arms.

Down in the lab, Abby explains Crow's side and leg wounds came from a jagged fiberglass tool. The stitches were bad enough she think he did it himself -- and more than once from the same injury happening over and over again.

In the office, McGee looks into weapons Holland might have checked out and if he had any mental issues. Gibbs is surprised to learn that Vance sent Ziva and Tony on assignment. Gibbs tries to tell Vance they can handle things and he should go home, but Vance won't listen. Craig suggests to Gibbs that Vance might not be fit to be at work, but Gibbs argues they need to give him time.

Ziva and Tony watch over the Vance kids.

Gibbs finds Vance staring off into space in the break room. Vance shows him the legal files he found. He's rattled to think he might not have known everything about his wife. He wants answers. Gibbs assures Vance that Jackie loved him and urges him to go home to his kids. Then he tells Vance not to come back until he's ready to be there.

McGee reports no mental issues in Holland's records, but he did find a lot of communications with Crow. Holland got access to the weapons room the night before Crow's death.

Vance comes home to find Tony chasing his kids around the house with a pizza box on his head. He's happy to see them happy. Ziva tells Vance she's sorry about his wife's death, given that it wouldn't have happened if her father hadn't been there. Vance tells her not to worry about it.

Gibbs and McGee go to Holland's room at Quantico and find him dead on the bathroom floor.

In the morgue, Duckie reports Holland was also beaten over the same time period as Crow, but not as severely. His spleen ruptured. He had the same fiberglass bits in a wound.

McGee finds three other Quantico Marines with similar injuries in the last three weeks. They look into their CO, Jonah Ellis, in his first command since returning from Afghanistan. Jonah's brother was captured, tortured and killed in Afghanistan. He had the same wounds that the Quantico Marines do. Duckie calls it emotional transference.

At Quantico, Gibbs and Vance try to talk to Ellis alone but his unit backs him up. He says he's trying to toughen them up.

Back at NCIS, Vance drops in on Craig in his office. He asks Craig if he has a suitcase packed and says he'll be in touch.

Vance finds Gibbs in his basement, refurbishing a cast iron stove. Gibbs gives Vance papers -- Shannon increased his life insurance at one point, worried he wouldn't return from overseas. Gibbs points out that Jackie did everything right after the attack on NCIS, she was preparing for life after him. Gibbs urges him to be OK for his kids. He says Jackie couldn't tell him what she was doing because she knew Vance would have left the job he loved. Vance asks what he's building, but Gibbs isn't saying.