Two kids are in the park, dragging a Christmas tree they cut down illegally. The young man teases her about her being naughty or nice and reaches to hug her. She stops because she see’s a man leaning against a tree with no coat on. They walk over to investigate and find the man is dead.

At home, Gibbs is cleaning off his car when he hears his father. He turns as his dad is getting out of an airport shuttle. Gibbs didn’t expect his father until that evening but Jackson caught an earlier flight. Gibbs wishes his dad had called and let him know, he would have picked him up. Jackson says he made it. Father and son have an awkward moment before they hug. “Too many years since I was here last,” Jackson says. “Whose fault is that huh?” Gibbs asks. “We gonna do this again son?” Jackson replies. Gibbs smiles and tells him to come in. They make small talk about the house. Inside, Jackson looks around and says, “Wow look at this. Hope you didn’t get all decked out on my account.” There is no sign of Christmas decorations anywhere. Gibbs tells Jackson there are plenty of comfortable hotels nearby. Jackson says he’ll be fine as long as he has a working clicker. Gibbs points to the television remote and then informs Jackson he doesn’t have cable. “Color?” Jackson asks. Gibbs chuckles as Jackson says he’ll manage. Gibbs moves his bicycle away from the television and brings it into another room. He points to the couch and tells Jackson that’s his bed. Jackson inquires about the guest room and Gibbs informs him it’s no longer a guest room. Gibbs points to the kitchen and says the cupboards aren’t empty. Jackson says maybe he’ll cook them something. “As long as it’s not your stroganoff, knock yourself out.” Jackson wants to know what’s wrong with his stroganoff. Rather than answer the question, Gibbs says he’s surprised Jackson came to visit. “It’s good to be with family at Christmas,” Jackson replies. Gibbs has to go, so he leaves his number for Jackson by the phone. Before Gibbs leaves, Jackson tells Gibbs he’s happy to be there.

Ziva, McGee and Tony arrive at the crime scene where it’s frigid and snowing. McGee says its freezing. “Man up Chilly Willy. Feel that warm blood coursing through your veins. Get in touch with your inner McGrizzly Adams,” Tony replies. McGee informs him he has hand warmers. Tony asks for a hand warmer but McGee refuses to give him one. Ziva says she’s not cold at all. “It’s because you’re cold blooded David, like a lady Komodo Dragon Ice Queen,” Tony says. She tells Tony she remembered to wear her thermal underwear. Tony offers her $50 for her thermals and she tells him they wouldn’t fit because he’s too big. Tony says they’ll stretch as Gibbs walks up alongside. McGee offers Tony crime scene gloves, triple bag insulation. Tony says there has to be a better way to avoid frost bite. “There is, get to work,” Gibbs says as he walks by.

The team reaches the victim, Marine First Lieutenant Thomas Ellis. Ellis is married and a decorated, 3rd Generation Marine. His father is a retired Marine Colonel, George Ellis, who is now an ordained minister. “Second career,” Tony says. “Second calling,” Gibbs replies as he walks around the victim. “Well his son experienced the call of the wild. Going barefoot and without gloves in this weather is ill-conceived to say the lease,” Ducky says as he looks over the body. Ziva found his wallet with credit cards and money, so there’s no evidence of robbery. Tony found a towel and soapy water in Ellis’ backpack. Ducky notices evidence of the soapy water under Ellis’ fingernails. Palmer comments it’s an odd place to take a bath, Ellis should have at least turned around and enjoyed the view. Ducky feels if Ellis had, it might have saved his life. McGee notices footprints in the snow, indicating which direction the attacker came from. Gibbs kneels down and blows snow off a compass, which is pointing east. Ziva wonders why a Marine wouldn’t fight back. Gibbs asks Ducky to lift up the body and Ziva tells Ducky to look under his knees. McGee and Ducky tip Ellis’ body over onto plastic. Ziva brushes the snow off the ground where Ellis had been kneeling and reveals an Islamic prayer rug. “He was praying when he was killed,” Gibbs says.

Back in the squadroom, McGee has pulled up Ellis’ military records on his computer. Ellis had officially changed his religion from Christian to Muslim 8 months prior. Ziva notes it was not just a passing interest. “Fruit of the month might be good,” Tony babbles as he’s sitting at his desk, feet propped looking through a gift catalogue. “Gee Tony I never pegged as a catalog shopper,” McGee says. “That’s because I’m not Tiny Tim but desperate times call for desperate measures. I took these from my neighbor’s doorstep,” Tony replies. Ziva asks if he stole them. Tony says the doorstep is a common area; he wouldn’t steal mail because it’s a federal offense. He picks up a lingerie catalog and flips through it, asking what to buy for the shrew that has everything. Tony picked Delores from Human Resources (H.R.) name for the secret Santa. Tony calls Delores a miserable grinchful woman. McGee says he won’t argue with Tony about that because once he tried to wish Delores a Happy Valentine’s Day and she claimed sexual harassment. Ziva tells them she’s probably just a lonely middle-aged woman, they should have some compassion. “Must be tough living up there on Mount Crumpet, scheming to take Christmas away from poor Cindy Lou Who,” Tony says. Ziva wonders why she bothers with Tony and he tells her to be careful or he’ll return her present. She reminds him they agreed no gifts. Tony’s phone rings and when he answers it, he jerks upright in his seat when he realizes its Gibbs. Tony has to meet Gibbs at Colonel Ellis house. Before he leaves, he looks at McGee and says, “Don’t touch my catalogues.”

At the Ellis house, Gibbs and Tony inform Colonel Ellis and Tom’s widow of his death. Colonel Ellis wants to know if it was a hate crime and Gibbs tells him they don’t know yet. Tony picks up a wedding photo and asks the widow how long they were married. She tells him 2 years but they hadn’t spent much time together as Tom had just started his second tour. “Nothing tests a marriage like the Core,” Colonel Ellis says. “Nature of the beast,” Gibbs replies. Ellis forgot Gibbs was in the Core but Gibbs remembers the Colonel. “It’s Reverend now,” Ellis replies. “Why the change?” Gibbs asks. When the Reverend’s wife died, he wanted to be closer to God. Tony asks Mrs. Ellis how she’d met her husband. They met in college, he was swimming and she played softball. After Tom joined the Core, things changed, Tom started studying the Muslim religion and was thinking about converting. Reverend Ellis blames himself and wonders if Tom converted to spite him. Reverend Ellis asked a Muslim Navy Chaplain to reach out to Tom. A young Marine walks in calling Merry Christmas to everyone. He is Patrick Ellis, the Reverend’s younger son. Patrick asks what is wrong. Reverend Ellis walks over and tells him his brother is dead, then hugs his youngest son.

In autopsy, Ducky asks the corpse of Ellis, “Lieutenant, when you knelt to commune with your maker, did you have any idea you’d be seeing him so soon?” “I think not,” Ducky adds. Palmer wonders if it’s true Muslim’s pray five times a day and Ducky confirms it is. “I never do anything five times a day,” Palmer adds. Gibbs walks into autopsy and asks what Ducky has. Ducky is waiting for the Cleric before he begins the autopsy proper but initial findings indicate blunt force trauma to the periatal lobe and multiple lacerations to his shoulder and neck. The blow was delivered in a downward slicing motion. The weapon was cylindrical as they discovered paint and some kind of thread in the wound. Ducky shows Gibbs the lacerations on Ellis’ feet. Ellis cleansed his feet a second time before returning to his prayer which means he turned his back on his attacker. This means he knew who his attacker was and trusted him/her.

In the squadroom, Jackson has arrived and is handing out homemade candy to the team. “Hey dad, stop making my team fat,” Gibbs says as he walks in and sits at his desk. Ziva wants to know why Gibbs didn’t tell them his father was coming. “I didn’t think he’d actually show,” Gibbs replies. As Tony reaches for another piece of chocolate, Gibbs says, “Go ahead, have another one bubble butt.” McGee smirks from behind his computer. Tony says it’s his metabolism slowing with age, nothing a good holiday cleanse won’t cure. Jackson doesn’t see the harm in them eating the candy. Gibbs realizes it’s his father’s neighbor who made the chocolate. The neighbor has been cooking for Jackson lately and Gibbs says she’s been after Jackson since his mother died. “She puts together a helluva care package…when people are hurting,” Gibbs says as he walks towards Tony’s desk. Tony tells Gibbs that the widow did have an affair with a banker while Tom Ellis was overseas. She called it off when the husband found out. Chaplain Aaban El-Sayad walks in looking for Gibbs.

Ziva, the Chaplain and Gibbs sit down to talk in the conference room. The Chaplain points out the Marine Core and the Islam religion teach the same three things: Honor, Courage and Commitment – the same 3 philosophies that Islam teaches. “Yes ignorance and bigotry still remain a problem in the military,” Ziva adds. “Well ignorance isn’t unique to any one group Agent David. All we can do is try our best to educate and pray for acceptance as a whole,” the Chaplain says. The Chaplain says Thomas stuck with the Muslim religion because he found something that was missing in his life. Thomas referred to his awakening as a devout epiphany. Ziva asks how the rest of the unit reacted to Elli’s conversion. Some of the unit were okay with it; some weren’t and found Ellis’ multiple prayers during the day troublesome. Thomas asked the Chaplain to speak with a First Sergeant Louis Tibbens.

In the squadroom, Ziva tells McGee and Tony that she spoke with Ellis’ C.O. (Commanding Officer) and he confirmed that Tibbens and Ellis didn’t get along. Jackson is sitting in Gibbs’ chair, watching and listening to the team. Tibbens is home on leave in Athens West Virginia, population 900. “Bigger than Stillwater, but it doesn’t have the charm,” Jackson says. “Or the perpetual smell of coal,” Tony replies. “I always liked that smell,” Gibbs adds as he walks in. Gibbs stops in front of his desk and stares at his father, whose sitting in his chair. Gibbs sends Ziva and Tony to find Tibbens and McGee is told to look into Ellis’ Muslim life. Gibbs wants to know if two names means Ellis was living two lives. Gibbs walks over to Jackson, who wants to know how the heck Gibbs could sit like that all these years. Jackson figures Gibbs should at least have walls for privacy. Gibbs tells him it’s time to go, he has a job for him.

Back home, Gibbs brings his father down to the basement. Gibbs tells him they are building toys. Jackson wants to know when Gibbs got into the spirit. “I don’t know. For me it’s more about the wood though having that deadline of the 24th has been good,” Gibbs says. “You don’t believe in Santa but you believe in hobbies. As long as you believe in something I guess,” Jackson says. “Settles my mind dad, keeps my hands buys,” Gibbs replies. The two men exchange a few comments and Jackson sits down. “Your trying to Tom Sawyer me into white washing the fence for you,” Jackson says. “No, not for me, with me. If you feel up to it,” Gibbs replies. He tells his dad they’ll talk when he gets back.

Ziva and Tony find Tibbens at a local bar shooting pool. Tony is looking for a deer head mounted on the wall with holiday lights on the antlers. “Santa’s looking for Rudolph, I think I know what happened,” Tony tells the bartender. “Tibbens sister described this place perfectly. So this is where a red throat would hang out after being overseas for months,” Ziva says. “It’s not red throat it’s red neck and I think we found the entire cast of ‘Hee-Haw’,” Tony says. Ziva points out Tibbens. “And his brother Darryl, and his other brother Darryl,” Tony says. The two walk over to the pool table to talk to Tibbens.

Ziva calls Tibbens. “You can call me Tibbs,” Tibbens says. Tony wants to know if they call him Mr. Tibbs. He introduces himself and Ziva, calling her his probationary sidekick. Ziva tells him that Ellis is dead. Tibbens was hunting at dawn and has a 6 pt. buck dead in the back of his pickup. Tibbens flirts with Ziva and tells her she’s probably never killed anything before. Ziva smiles and says, “I’ll never tell.” Tony says, “Oh boy.” Tony tells Tibbens he needs to come to NCIS with them and answer some questions. Tibbens has a better idea, he wants Ziva to go home with him and ‘decorate’ his tree. Ziva tells Tibbens “Let’s go,” but Tibbens reaches for her instead. Ziva grabs his hand and shoves him against the wall. She cuffs him and then tells him to sit. Tony gets attacked and fights several other bar members. He hits one guy with a stool, another with a bar tray. A third one grabs him from behind. Tony slugs the guy and is thrown down on the pool table by the man who grabbed him from behind. Ziva kicks the man in the privates and punches another one. “Red throats,” she says. “Red necks,” Tony corrects her. “Whatever,” she replies and looks at Tibbens.

Tony chats with Tibbens in interrogation. Tony has ice on his hand while Tibbens has bruises on his face. Tibbens explains the concern they had with Ellis. Ellis would stop and pray in the middle of a mission or on the road but he didn’t kill Ellis. Tibbens and some other men were approached and offered money to get Ellis to quit the Core for good. The men did it for the safety of the unit. Tony asks who offered them money. Tibbens said they found out from word of mouth. They communicated with the person who made the request via PO Box. The money was wired to them, no questions asked.

In Abby’s lab, she’s playing with her skeleton, who she dressed in Santa’s hat, coat, and beard. She is entertaining her friend, Carol Wilson, from college. McGee comes in and she introduces the two of them. McGee makes some lame jokes, then asks what they are drinking. Abby says it’s Caf-Nog, an old family recipe. Carol shows McGee a picture of her nephew, Fisher, sitting on Santa’s lap. Carol took Fisher to see Santa and while all the other kids asked for toys, he just wanted to see his mother for Christmas. Fisher’s mother is stationed on a destroyer in the Indian Ocean. McGee tells them that satellite feeds to the Indian Ocean are restricted. Abby calls McGee a miracle worker and has faith he’ll make it happen.

Gibbs arrives back in the squadroom and is greeted by Ziva and Tony. Tony ran a financial check on the men in Ellis’ unit and only two men including Tibbens accepted the bribe for $4,000 each. All the money was drawn from the same overseas account and deposited at the same time. The corporation it was drawn from is a dummy corporation. Tony tells Gibbs that Interpol is checking into it. Gibbs is doing something on his computer and tells Tony to tell Interpol to check faster. “You do it,” Tony hisses. Gibbs looks up and glares at Tony. “Not you boss. You (he looks at Ziva). How many languages do you speak anyway?” Tony says. “Including the language of love, ten,” Ziva says. Gibbs cell phone rings, Jackson called him. Gibbs yells into the phone, “You did what?”, grabs his coat and runs for the elevator.

Gibbs arrives home as the firemen are leaving. The Firemen tells Gibbs everything is okay. Gibbs finds Jackson on the couch and kneels in front of him. He checks Jackson’s pulse and asks if he’s okay. Jackson tried to start a fire in the fireplace but it was clogged. Gibbs walks over to look at it and notices boxes with Christmas decorations on the floor. Jackson had his wife’s decorations shipped to Gibbs’ house and went out and got a tree. Jackson accuses Gibbs of patronizing him and tells Gibbs if he’s unhappy with what Jackson is doing to speak up. Loudly, Gibbs says, “Dad, I’m trying to make this work.” “And I’m not?” Jackson asks. Gibbs sighs in frustration, then reaches for his gun, heads over to the bookcase to lock it up in a gun safe. Jackson asks Gibbs to put the gun safe somewhere else, he doesn’t want to be in the same room with the gun, it makes him uncomfortable. Gibbs assures his father it’s safe. Jackson gets upset with Gibbs and yells, wondering if for once, Gibbs will do what he’s asking him and why everything with them always has to be an argument. Gibbs agrees to put the gun safe away. Jackson wants to go out for a walk and Gibbs asks if he wants company. Jackson yells he’s alright and leaves by himself. Gibbs phone rings. Tony calls to tell Gibbs Interpol got the name on the dummy corporation, it’s Colonel George Ellis. “His father?” Gibbs asks.

Gibbs and Tony show up at Reverend Ellis’ home. Tina and Patrick Ellis are angry at the accusations towards the Reverend in regards to hurting his own son. Patrick tells them it’s a lie. “Not according to the bank. People do things for such misguided reasons,” Tony replies. “Well Marines aren’t just people sir,” Patrick says. “Your right Pat they're not but they abide by the same laws. Your father didn’t,” says Gibbs. Tony asks Tina for the number for the man she had an affair with. Gibbs asks for their alibis the morning of Thomas’ death. Tina says she was with friends and Patrick was at school. Reverend Ellis walks in and tells Tina it’s okay, NCIS has a right to know everything. Reverend Ellis admits to paying the men in the unit to get Tom to stop the Muslim nonsense. The Reverend felt if Tom realized he was putting his unit in danger he’d stop being selfish. Reverend Ellis says what he did was wrong but well-intentioned. “If it led to my son’s death, then god forgive me. And Tom’s gone too,” Reverend Ellis says. “They're one and the same Colonel,” Gibbs replies and leaves.

In the squadroom, Ziva asks McGee if he feels the Colonel was involved in his son’s death. McGee says the Reverend has a congregation, humiliation can do irrational things to people. Tony’s phone rings and he answers it. It’s Delores from H.R., she wants to meet with Tony at 6pm on Christmas Eve. McGee laughs and goes over to Ziva. He tells her to watch, it’s going to be good. Tony hangs up and says, “Someone broke my cover. She knows I’m her Secret Santa. McGee, you wouldn’t do that,” Tony says. “Ho-ho-ho,” McGee says as he and Ziva slaps hands. Tony feels she’ll probably suck the Christmas joy out of him. Ziva tries to tell him she’s probably just lonely. Tony wonders what he should get her as Ziva’s phone rings. Gibbs wants Ziva to meet him in Abby’s lab.

In Abby’s lab, Abby holds up a metal pole, points to a display of other poles on the table, and tells them any of them could kill but none of them did. Ziva asks if she had any luck identifying the murder weapon. “This job isn’t about luck, it’s about the keen eye of science,” Abby says. “Abby,” Gibbs warns. Abby tells him she wouldn’t call him down for just nothing, but first she has to do something. She puts on some skeleton oven mitts and pulls out gingerbread cookies decorated to look like her. With a serious look, Abby holds them in front of Gibbs and Ziva and says, “Go ahead, taste one.” Laughing, Ziva says, “I’m sorry I could never eat you.” Gibbs takes one to go, for his dad. He tells Abby he hopes she has more than just gingerbread cookies. Abby tells him she found minute particles of aluminum and titanium in Ellis’ head wounds. Abby reenacts the murder through a computer simulation. She says it’s the speed with which the blow was delivered that is impressive; whoever killed Ellis is athletic.

Ziva catches up with Tina Ellis at the park. She wants to ask Tina some more questions. Tina went to the park to see where her husband was killed. Ziva asks about Tina’s affair. She then asks Tina if she still plays softball and explains the nature of the wound that killed him. Tina is offended and tells Ziva she has a military funeral to plan for a hero, and for a husband she loved deeply.

Ducky is with Jackson in Gibbs’ basement. They are laughing, drinking and completing toys. Jackson is sharing old childhood stories of both his childhood and Gibbs. Gibbs comes downstairs and Ducky goes to pour another drink. Gibbs grabs the bottle and tells Ducky it’s getting late. “Ah yes, there is Christmas shopping to be done and a roost to be ghosted,” Ducky says standing up. Jackson laughs as Ducky corrects himself, “A goose to be roasted.” Ducky shakes hands with Jackson and tells him it was a pleasure to finally meet him.

Upstairs, Ducky and Gibbs chat. Ducky tells Gibbs that his father is much more accessible than Gibbs. Ducky had come by to see if there was something wrong with Jackson. Gibbs wants to know how bad. Ducky rules out dementia and tells Gibbs something far more old fashioned is wrong with Jackson. Jackson is suffering from an emotional trauma. “It’s nothing personal Jethro, but I don’t think he came here for your uplifting holiday cheer. Martha Stewart you are not,” Ducky says. Gibbs wonders why Jackson came. Ducky tells Gibbs to make some phone calls to Stillwater on behalf of his father and they may prove enlightening.

At his desk, McGee is working on Fisher’s Christmas wish. He tells the person on the other end that he has direct orders from Admiral Nicholas Whitebeard, who oversees the Northern Polar regions. McGee comments that he’s doing charitable work for Abby and the big man. “Gibbs?” Ziva asks. “Director Vance,” Tony says. “Bigger and rounder,” McGee responds. Director Vance calls and talks to Tony. He provides an alibi for Reverend Ellis and his daughter-in-law, Tina. The Reverend was visiting SecNav and Tina drove him at the time of Tom Ellis’ murder. Chaplain Said shows up and tells them he has a problem. He hands Ziva a letter he’d just received in the mail. It’s a newsletter cut and paste note that reads “He died because of you! Bang you’re dead.”

Ziva walks into the conference room where Gibbs and the Chaplain are waiting. She tells them the letter was sent through the military postal service. The threat is real, it could be because the Chaplain got to close. Gibbs offers protection but the Chaplain turns it down. Ziva reminds him he has a wife and daughter. He tells them he is also a Chaplain and has a responsibility. Ziva calls him stubborn and pig-headed. The Chaplain talks about his work and mentions Tom Ellis had asked him to speak to his class. He is amazed how different Tom and Patrick are from one another.

Abby has decorated her lab for the holiday with a Christmas spider. She rambles on about how she can decorate her test tube Christmas tree and warm up dumplings in the incubator. “Abby,” Gibbs, Ziva and Tony say at the same time. She tells them she feels like Scrooge being visited by the three grumpy ghosts. They want to see the simulation of the murder again, most importantly, the point of impact. Abby comments that whoever did it had agility, speed and power on their side. “Well, if I don’t mind saying so, I have many of those qualities myself,” Tony says. Ha, Ziva laughs. “Where’s your generous holiday spirit Probette?” Tony asks. “Bah hum bog,” Ziva says. “Ba what?” Tony asks. Gibbs watches the reenactment and mentions that Patrick Ellis played LaCrosse. Abby pulls up the specifications of a Lacrosse stick and they are made with the exact same material that was found in Thomas Ellis’ head wound. “Abel and Cain,” Ziva says. Gibbs says that Patrick killed his own brother.

At the Ellis home, Gibbs and Tony wait for Patrick to return. Gibbs tells Patrick that he was at the park the morning his brother was killed. Patrick had gone there to confront his brother about being Muslim and killed him. Tony asks where his lacrosse stick is, most players run with their sticks, did he break it or destroy the evidence. Patrick looks to his father and tells him that he did it for the family; Tom was embarrassing them. Reverend Ellis slaps Patrick across the face. Reverend Ellis said that no matter what, Thomas was still his son. Patrick blames his brother for ruining the family’s honor. Patrick felt Thomas turned their back on his family. “I don’t know maybe we turned our back on him,” Reverend Ellis says.

Jackson is sitting in the living room by the tree, staring at the fire. Gibbs walks in and hands his father a beer. Gibbs called Stillwater and found out what happened to bring Jackson to visit. He wants to know the details from Jackson. Jackson tells him a man came into town, into his store. The man had a gun and was going to rob him. Jackson told him to take whatever he wanted from the store. There were two young girls in the store and the robber turned to the girls. He killed the man before he could harm the girls. While it’s not the first time Jackson has killed anyone, it’s the first time he’s seen their face. The robber was 23 and had a kid, Jackson was told. “Looks different from up there in the cockpit huh?” Gibbs says. Jackson tells him from up there, it didn’t look like much of anything. You pull the trigger, feel the release and nothing. He never even thought about it. He wants to know how Gibbs has done it all these years. “This is why you came? Gibbs asks. “That and it’s Christmas,” Jackson says. “It’s not supposed to be easy,” Gibbs says.

In autopsy, Ducky and Palmer zip Thomas Ellis into a body bag. The Chaplain and Reverend Ellis salute the body as Palmer wheels by.

Upstairs, Tony goes to knock on Delores door but can’t do it. He’s holding a large gift wrapped box. Ziva grabs him and tells him to go back. A struggle goes on in the hallway between the two and they don’t notice Delores come out of her office. Tony says, “Merry Christmas Delores. I got this for you. I looked in your personnel file, which is legal because I have that security clearance. But I saw that when you were 8 years old all the little girls in your neighborhood they all got this incredible doll the knee high cherry pie doll and you didn’t get one. I guess Santa didn’t make enough that year so I got this for you.” He hands her the package and she opens it to find the doll she wanted. She smiles and laughs.

McGee walks into MTAC with Fisher, Abby and Carolyn. He tells Fisher it’s a magic room called MTAC. McGee tells Fisher that Santa told him to bring Fisher there. He wants Fisher to make a Christmas wish and see if it comes true. He has Fisher shut his eyes and think of the one thing he wants for Christmas. McGee gives the nod and Fisher’s mother comes onscreen. “Well, not bad huh. I pulled it off,” McGee says. Abby kisses him on the cheek, leaving lipstick marks and tells him he’d make a great Santa. McGee says that all you have to do is believe. “I do believe,” she tells him. McGee smiles and kisses her on the cheek.

Gibbs and his father lug the handmade toys up from the basement. “I’ll go warm up the sleigh,” Jackson says. Gibbs smiles as his dad walks out, then he follows.