Out of the Frying Pan

Director Vance has Gibbs and his team assigned to the case of a drug-addicted teenager accused of patricide. Gibbs begins to question Vance's motives when the NCIS team begin to find inconsistencies in the investigation that lead him to believe his suspect is innocent. Tensions between Gibbs and Vance - fuelled by budget cuts and re-assignments in previous episodes - come to a head when Vance admits the victim was a close friend. After a lengthy investigation, NCIS discover that the boy's runaway mother had recently tried to re-enter his life, and killed his father in a rage when he refused to let the two meet.