Z vězení utekl Paulsen, muž obviněný z vraždy, a vyšetřovatel Fornell byl jedním z lidí, kteří ho do vězení dostali. Paulsen žádá Fornella, aby znovu otevřel celý případ a vyhrožuje jak jemu, tak jeho malé dcerce Emily.

Gibbs se vrací do práce a s NCIS se vracejí ke starému případu loupeže. Vyslýchají staršího muže Mickeyho, který jediný byl s Paulsenem v kontaktu po té, co byl poslán do vězení. Mickey přizná, že Paulsen u něj byl, ale už odešel. Paulsen mezitím odcízil vyšetřovatelům jejich auto, Mickey zároveò zjišťuje, že se mu ztratila zbraò. Brzy tým zaznamenává vzkaz pro Gibbse, ve kterém Paulsen děkuje za vůz a přivádí detektivy k fotografiím, které dokazují nesrovnalosti v důkazech.

Fornell takes his daughter, Emily, (8) to a children's beauty parlor on a busy Saturday morning. Another man enters and speaks to her. Fornell looks up from the magazine he is reading and is horrified, it is an escaped murderer whom he and Gibbs put away years ago. The threat to Fornell's daughter sends Fornell to Gibbs' house, where Gibbs has put his house on the market. Gibbs is in his basement cleaning out and packing things and pauses to look at the contents of a box that spilled open. He opens a girl's lunch box and finds photos of his daughter and wife and smiles a little while looking at them. Fornell arrives and asks Gibbs to stay and help track down the murderer (who insists that he is innocent). Gibbs resists but Fornell explodes, utterly angry because it is his little girl who is at risk. Disgusted he leaves muttering "nice tan" at Gibbs.

Ziva and Lee are standing at McGee's desk saying "It's not so bad." "You can barely tell it." Tony then arrives and as team leader expects to know what is going on with his team that might distract the team from their investigations. He questions Lee who spills the beans. "McGee's teeth were over whitened because he fells asleep with his tooth whitening tray in place." Tony then starts insisting that McGee show him. Then Gibbs walks by and they all look up in shock. "Gibbs." "What is..." Gibbs continues on up the stairs to the Director's office. Gibbs takes on the case, technically still employed at NCIS because he was only using up vacation time that had accrued to him, so he didn't need to be reappointed thanks to Jenny not filing the retirement package.

We see Gibbs' face posted on Abby's computers when we hear Gibbs ask her "reading anything good?" And she answers him as if she was just talking to herself. Then he sets down a cup of Caf-Pow beside her and starts looking over her shoulder at what she was reading. She then realizes he's there and jumps up and gives him a bearhug. She then goes to her computers and cuts off Gibb's pictures that were up on the screen. Abs hugs Gibbs again "I knew you'd be back!!" Gibbs "I'm not back." Abby "Of course you're back! I can feel your badge! That is your badge right??" Which he promptly shows her. "Reinstatement is only temporary until we find Paulson." Abby mutters "We'll see about that." And then she proceeds to put Gibbs' picture back up on her monitor as she says "What can I do for you temporarily reinstated Special Agent Gibbs?" "Process the contents of Paulson's cell." Abby, "What am I looking for? Oh right anything that could help you find him." Gibbs "I want to know what he was was up to before he escaped." Then he looks up at the labs' surveillance camera and says "Unless the three of you have any suggestions?" Back in the squad room we see McGee, David and DiNozzo standing around a monitor looking like they were caught stealing cookies. Then Tony connects the audio feed and says "Hey..ha ha..we were just ah..just eavesdropping like little girls. But we do have suggestions!" Snapping his fingers to get McGee and David to come up with something. Back in the lab we see Gibbs smirking at the camera. Then David says "Prison records show that only one person came to see Paulson in jail." McGee "Mickey Stokes. 72. Former Navy sailor." Ziva" and since Paulson has no family, we should assume that he would contact Mickey." Tony "and I already have an address." "Tony, Ziva you're with me." Tony and Gibbs both say "McGee stay here and help Abby." Gibbs in his team leader voice and Tony starts out with a command but realizes he's echoing Gibbs trails off mid-sentence then says "stay and help Abby process Paulson's belongings." Over the monitor we see Gibbs hold up Abby's cup of Caf-Pow and he says "And gargle this...before the rest of us go snowblind." Tim has a confused look on his face like "How did he know about that???"

We see an NCIS car pull up to a house and as they get out, Tony says to Ziva "Gibbs was awfully quiet in the car." Ziva replied "It's not like you gave him much chance to talk Tony. Is it making you nervous that he might want his old job back?" Tony-"Come on... I'm just bringing him up to speed on the latest protocols." They are then greeted at the door by an older man who says "What took you hotshots so long? He's been waiting over an hour.." As the team burst into the house with weapons drawn, the old man hollers "Hey! Shoes off!!" As the team "clears" the house Gibbs says "Where is he?" The old man says "I never said he was here" and hands Gibbs a phone. "Gibbs." Paulson on the other end "I didn't expect to hear your voice. I heard you quit." "Retired." "Ha ha at your age that's quitting." "Why don't you turn yourself in and you can tell me about this in person." "Turn myself in for what? I'm an innocent man." "try a broken record" as Gibbs spots cut off handcuffs on the old man's coffee table. Paulson "So you're not going to reopen my case?" "We both know what I'll find if I do, so why don't you tell me what you really want?" "I already got it Agent Gibbs." Tony, as Gibbs walks towards the front door, "So what does he really want?" "Our car." Then we see the team all staring at the empty parking spot.

We see Tony and Ziva processing the house taking evidence and photos. Ziva -"They appear to be close." Tony's observation is "Well they say that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Meals on Wheels. It appears Paulson was a volunteer." Ziva very confused-"He volunteered to put meals on wheels??" "They bring food to the elderly, Ziva." She then flashed the camera at Tony for the second time. In the living room we see the old man saying "Of course I helped him!! Derek was like a son to me. I was the closest thing he had to family. What would you do if it were your kid in trouble?" Fornell walks in and says "I would have told him to give himself up, before he got hurt." "I'm glad you ain't my old man Fornell. Shoes OFF!!!" Fornell glances over his shoulder to see a row of shoes sitting by the front door and then looks at Gibbs' feet and see him wiggling his toes in his socks. (OK, no self respecting agent is going to be going to a potentially dangerous crime scene in 4" heels Ziva!!) Fornell as he's taking his shoes off -"And I certainly wouldn't let him steal my car." (Talking to Gibbs.) Gibbs, "He didn't. It was DiNozzo's car." Old man "He just wants you to reopen his case. You've been reading my letters for the past four years. You bozos got the wrong guy." Fornell-"Paulson took advantage of you Mickey. He only brought you food because it was near the bank he was casing." Gibbs-"You wasted your life savings defending the guy." Mickey shouts "Hey! Not my computer! I got an online date tonight!!" as Ziva carries it out. Fornell-"Where is he Mickey?" Gibbs sotto voice walks past Fornell and says "He doesn't know." Fornell follows Gibbs into another room and asks "You sure? Want to hit him for aiding and abetting?" Gibbs "Well he did shelter Paulson and give him money." Tony "I say we use him as bait. Give Mickey a pass, put a man on him in case Paulson comes back." Fornell and Gibbs both cross their arms and look at Tony. Gibbs "You're the boss" and Tony gets a huge grin on his face. Tony's cell phone rings then. "Yeah." we can hear a voice on the other end of the line saying they found his car "Where?" voice- "Half mile up the road." Tony "Anything in it?" gets an answer. He hangs up and repeats the conversation to Gibbs and Fornell and saying the only thing missing was "...My laptop" Gibbs-"And every file we had on Paulson." Mickey shouting from the other room "I told you he wasn't just working his case." Fornell-"Except he's had all his case files since his trial." Ziva-"Perhaps ours had something his didn't." Gibbs-"They do." Tony explains "The addresses of the witnesses who testified against him." (Glitch in video) "Just my old Colt." "where is it?" Mickey walks over to a side table and opens the wood box and sees that the gun and ammunition is missing.

In Abby's lab she is saying "Paulson could be after any of a half dozen witnesses." Agent Lee, looking at many file folders, "I've never seen a convicted felon file so many appeals. It's an abuse of the system." Abby-"We're all entitled to our day in court." "Not according to Agent Gibbs. In going over his case files he seems to have more of a "biblical" approach to things. You ask me the agency's better off without him." At which Abby slams down the evidence she was working on and comes up to Lee and glares down at her. "I like you Michelle so I'm going to pretend you didn't just say that. NCIS is lucky to have Gibbs back." "Except he's not staying." "You do realize..." "You can kill me without leaving any forensic evidence behind? Yep, you mentioned that." "Good then it's settled. Gibbs is staying. He has to. Right Gibbs?" We see him standing in the doorway with a Caf-Pow and a coffee cup. He just stands and looks at Abby. She then turns and puts his pictures up on her computer screens again. "What do you got for me Abby?" "Paulson's fingerprints on Mickey's gun case and the computer." Lee-"And he also visited over a dozen people search sites, I think he was looking for someone." Gibbs "Yeah I got that part." Abby-"No names yet, but I'm using the FBI's mainframe to decrypt the search...hey. You always did have really good timing." We see a window pop up on the screen with an older Blonde "Mickey! Where the heck is Mickey you tramp!" "Mickey isn't here." Explaining to Gibbs "It's Mickey's online playmate. She keeps coming through my firewall." "Russell Nash. Apparently the only accomplice Paulson didn't kill." Abby-"Yeah. And the one he really should have." Lee-"Nash copped a plea and testified against Paulson, Paulson got life and Nash walked in 18 months. Skipped out on his parole. Hasn't been seen since." Abby-"Well if the money was never found, then maybe Paulson is looking for Nash 'cause he thinks Nash has the money." Gibbs-"Or Paulson is looking for something a little more...'biblical.'"

In the squad room Ziva, talking on the phone "I'll let Agent Gibbs know immediately and I'll see you Saturday." We see McGee listening to earphones and drinking Caf-Pow but when Ziva hangs he asks her "Hey was the FBI able to warn all the witnesses?" "All except one. Is this your third Caf-Pow McGee?" "It's my fourth" showing his teeth to Ziva. "Nnn, maybe you should switch to blueberries. Anything good on our tip hotline?" "Is there ever? Half our callers don't even know what a 'tip' is." Around the corner we see Tony on the phone with a female voice saying "Have you asked Gibbs yet?" "What about?" "You're not wondering why he's back?" Gibbs walks up behind Tony. "Taking a little break DiNozzo?" "Oh I think you know exactly what I'm doing Agent Gibbs." McGee-"Why do you think he's back?" Ziva-"I don't know but I hope it's more than just Fornell. Let's just say I'm getting a little sick of the campfires." Tony snaps shut his phone and says "Showtime." McGee-"I wouldn't want to let Tony hear you say that." "Say what McGee?" says Tony as he walks into the squad area. "Yeah I was telling McGee the FBI was able to..." "Warn all the witnesses from Paulson's trial except for one?" "Right! The only one they couldn't find was..." Gibbs-"Russell Nash." Ziva looks confused. Tony speaking to Gibbs "I have much to learn still master." Gibbs gets a bit of a smile. Tony smacks his desk "CAMPFIRE!" McGee slides across the floor in front of Tony's desk and we see Ziva reluctantly pushing her chair over as well. Gibbs is looking on and Tony explains to him that it's a new thing he likes to do instead of shouting across the bullpen....Not that there's anything wrong with that." "Let's focus on Russell Nash." "The inside man." "Worked for the bank Paulson knocked over." "Our only missing witness." Gibbs from his desk behind the divider "according to Abby he's the one Paulson's after." "We find Nash." "We find Paulson."

In could not have done it and the best friend was not such a friend after all, but had set up the Petty Officer to take the fall for the robbery.

The final piece to the puzzle is to figure out where the money from the robbery went, as the best friend's house is modest and old fashioned. Then McGee starts to notice that the old fashioned furniture is actually antique furniture, the old books are first editions, and they are standing inside an edition of the antiques roadshow. McGee can put estimates on the furniture which is clearly hundreds of thousands of dollars.