CHAPTER 1: INVASION

The body of a sailor is found washed up on a beach near the Quantico, it has
bruises on the face. The Head has cuts and grazes as if it has been scraped
over every rock surface on the way to being washed up. The arms and legs
are also bruised the nails have red scrapings under them and they are
missing 2 nails from each hand. The torso has two bullet holes through the
back and stab wounds to the chest and legs. The feet have shoes on although
they are worn and dirty. The sailor is fully clothed and tears to the backs
of the legs of the pants reveal two large open cuts. The lungs are clearly
filled with water and there is some green discolouration to the mouth.

*TITLE MUSIC*

Abby is sitting under her desk and is asking McGee to join her, he won't so
she grabs him by his tie and pulls him under the desk. She kisses him and
takes his clothes off until he is in his underwear and they both start
laughing.

"Abby please! We can't do this here!"
"What's the matter McGee do you not like me anymore?"
"No I do, really I do but I get nervous doing this kind of thing with people
around!"
"Like who? There's no one here!"
"Erm. I am"
"who was that?"
"I don't know!"

"I think you'll need these!" She says holding out McGee's trousers.

"Thanks" he says shyly and picks up the rest of his clothes, and hurries out
of the lab.

"Hi, I'm Emma Harvey, head of forensics in London, Agent DiNozzo said that it
was ok for me to come down and introduce myself, we will be working on the
case together."
"Hey, I'm Abby"
"I know"
"You do?"
"Yes, you are famous over there, we study your work!"
"Wow, I'm famous!"
"Did you hear that kate I'm famous!"

At that moment Agent Kate Todd enters the Lab and stands next to Abby.

"Yes I did!", "Hey, Abs I see you've met Emma."
"Yes I have"
"Great!"
"Oh, Emma your boss needs you upstairs."
"Right, I'll see you later, nice meeting you Abby!"
"You too Emma."

Emma exit's the lab, Abby and Kate watch her go and when she is out of sight
they get talking.

"Kate, does Gibbs know about this?"
"Yes, and he is pissed! They hadn't told him that they were coming and when
their Special Agent Veron turned up you should have seen the look on his
face!"
"Where is he now?"
"Trying to understand what's going on!"
"I don't like her!"
"She seems ok but I don't think they will be here for long, not if Gibbs has
his way they won't"
"And he does get his way!"
"Oh, where's McGee?"
"He got caught with his pants down!"
"OH!" Kate says looking puzzled.

They both make their way to the bull pit laughing but uncertain of what was
going to happen and how long the English agents muscling in on their investigation
would be staying. Gibbs was surely not going to like this and he didn't.

"I don't want these people handling my case!"
"I'm under strict orders Agent Gibbs to bring this investigation...."
"Does it look like I care Special Agent Veron" Gibbs says with his usual
charm, cutting Agent Veron off.
"There is nothing I can do Agent Gibbs the FBI have Priority" says the director
"They have no right, Federal B******ds!", "This is my case I want my people
handling it!", "Not some posh idiots flown in from the other side of
the pond!"
"There is nothing we can do Agent Gibbs you will have to work together!" the director says
"Over my dead body!"
"Agent Gibbs I assure you...."
"Be quiet Special Agent Veron" Gibbs snaps

CHAPTER 2: OLD WAYS

In the bull pit, Tony introduces himself to the beautiful blonde waiting by
the lift.

"Hi, I'm Tony DiNozzo!" he shows that deadly smile.
"Hi, I'm Victoria Smith" she begins to act like a schoolgirl with a crush.
"So, what is someone like you doing in a place like this?"
"Someone like me?" the smile fades and anger starts to appear on her face.
"You know someone as beautiful as you is hard to find around here."
"Thank you, I am here on business." the smile reappears
"Oh, what kind of business?" Tony is looking puzzled and starts to think
that Kate has set him up again with another girl who is going to prove her
point and puts his foot right in it.
"Did Kate put you up to this?"
"why yes she did!"
Tony now knows it's a trap and decides to play along to get back at Kate.
"So you know her then?"
"Oh, yes!"
"welll i'm sorry for wasting your time but i'm not into that whole hiring
women while i'm at work!"
"Excuse me?" she says with a rathe anry looking expression.
"You said agent Kate Todd put you up to this, so i assume your one
of those women."
"Yes i do know agent Kate Todd, We met 10 minutes ago! She told me to introduce myself to you but
I was too shy."
"Oh so you're not one of those women then?"
"What women?"
"You know the ones you pay for?"
"How dare you!" she grabbs his shoulders and knees him in the groin.
"Ooohhhh!" Tony falls to the ground holding his groin and rolling around on the floor.

Kate and Abby exit the lift and Kate introduces Victoria to Abby who by now has a huge
smile on her face and her arms folded, Kate giggles at Tony realising that he must
have tried to come on to her because she is blonde slim and beautiful, just his type.

"I see you've met Victoria, Tony?"
"Why yes Kate I have." he says gritting his teeth pain still obvious in his voice.

Kate smiles back and walks to her desk, Abby and Victoria follow, Kate
tells her all about Tony and every now and again they all look at Tony and
giggle like schoolgirls. Tony is obviously becoming annoyed and walks quickly to his
desk slumping himself on his chair and muttering to himself.

Ziva enters, once again she is 30 minutes late (even after McGee's directions earlier
that week she is still finding it hard to work out the U.S. driving system.)
She knows that Gibbs will have his say or shout as the case may be but
today she is not in the mood to take his crap. She notices the three
women at Kate's desk and begins to wonder who the third is, she
knows she has not seen her before.

"Tony who is that blonde over there?"
"What makes you think i know who that is?"
"Oh come on Tony, there isn't any blonde in the United States of america
you don't know!"
"I don't want to talk about it!"
"Whats wrong Tony? she come to her senses and turn you down?"

Tony just gives her that smile that only a man in pain can give. She is
starting to wind him up and the pain that he is feeling from the knee to his
groin is starting to really sting.

"Fine! i will go ask her myself"

Before Tony even has a chance to move in his seat she dives in the direction
of the Blonde and shortly after a few seconds of them chatting she turns to
Tony gives him the screwed up face to signify pain and starts laughing
along with the other women.

In the elevator the Phone rings and Gibbs answers in his usual way.

"Gibbs"
"Agent Gibbs, there has been a body found washed up ashore near Quantico, we
believe it is one of the men you have been looking for!"

He puts down the phone and exits the lift and enters the bull pit to inform the others.
Tony still feeling the effects of 30 minutes ago is at his desk with his
head in his hands looking as black as thunder but still feels the pain.

"DiNozzo, I need you to round up Kate and McGee."

Gibbs grabbs his sig out of the drawer and loads it.

"Why boss? Something happened?"
"A body washed up near Quantico, I want you, Kate and McGee to make your way
there, I will follow shortly with ducky."
"Sure Boss"

Tony picks up the phone calls Kate and McGee, grabs his gun and heads to the
parking lot to get the car.

Gibbs driving in his usual style arrives at the crime scene shortly after the others
and is horrified to see Special Agent Veron, Agent Smith and FP Emma Harvey.

"You have got to be kidding me!"
"Afraid not Boss according to the sheriff they have been here for at least 30 minutes"
Tony informs Gibbs.

Gibbs looking slightly past explosive now, confronts Special Agent Veron.

"Agent Gibbs, glad you could make it!" says Veron
"If you think you can take this case from me you are gravely mistaken" says Gibbs
"Oh well if it takes you this long to get to a crime scene it is a good thing we are
here to clean up the mistakes" says Veron with a small smirky smile on his face.

Agent Veron walks over to his team and Gibbs is left standing there blood boiling
as he counts to ten (not his usual way of relieveing stress but his boat is at home
and he has to finish up here first)

"DiNozzo!" Says Gibbs
"Yes boss" he says running to Gibbs
"Smack" was all that greated him as he approached gibbs (this one was harder than
usual as Tony was moving at the time of impact).
"Ouch" said Tony
"Go take pictures"
"What was that for"
"Smack" again as Gibbs starts smiling
"Get Back to work DiNozzo!"
That was what he needed he thought as he returned to the group.


Back at the lab Abby and McGee are working on the latest case, Abby gets a
little time before the results are ready that she decides to ask McGee about
what happened earlier that day.

"McGee?"
"Mmmm." he replies with his eyes still shut firmly.
"McGee why won't you look at me?"
"Am.Well."
"Tell me." she says inquisitively.
"I.....um." still keeping his eyes shut.
"Well?"

McGee is about to open his mouth and tell Abby when Tony walks into the lab.

"Hey Abs!" , "Probie."
"Hey Tony! McGee was just about to tell me why he won't look at me." Says Abby
"Oh is Probie scared that if he looks at a pretty lady that he might wet his
pants!"
"No!"
"Oh Tony do you think I'm pretty?"
"No you look like hell."
"Tony you're so sweet!"

Gibbs enters the lab with a serious look on his face, it is obvious that today
for him was not going to be a good one.

"DiNozzo, you were meant to have left 10 minutes ago!"
"Sorry boss I....!
"Go DiNozzo!" gibbs shouts, tony is still standing there looking
dumbfounded as his eyes meet Gibbs'.
"NOW!"
"Yess boss"
"McGee, that means you too!"
"Oh, sure boss"

He hands Abby her usual bucket of Caff-Pow.

"You know what I like!"
"What have you got for me Abs?"
"Well the tests I am running on the scrapings under the victims nails still
has another 15 minutes, the gun found at the scene is rather old and heavily
used but I did find a print on it and ran it through AFIS and it came up as
a Navy Engineer Andrew Segal."

Gibbs starts towards the doors walking his normal nobody stop me
kind of way.

"Good, Ill call McGee to find out who this Navy Engineer is and I will check with Ducky
to see who we have joining us."
"Hold on a second Gibbs!"

Gibbs pauses in mid step catches his balance and turns towards Abby.

"Abby I haven't got time for this!"
"It will be worth it I promise!" she says with her usual 'i won't hurt a fly' pout.
"It better be!" says Gibbs
"Do I ever let you down?" she asks
"Abby!"
"Sorry Gibbs, well the bullets recovered from the body are made of silver
not copper used with modern guns but there is one problem, the bullets do not
match the gun that we found."
"Good work Abby!" he says as he signs 'not a good day' to her
'right' she signs back.

Gibbs leaves the lab and heads to Ducky in autopsy.

CHAPTER 3: JUDGEMENT DAY

"What we looking at here Duck?" said Gibbs
"Ah, Jethro I was wondering when you were going to grace me with your
presence! I hear we have some new arrivals, I have met with Special Agent Veron
he seems to be quite a nice fellow..."
"The body, Duck?" Gibbs says in his usual sarcastic tone.
"Ah yes, seems that our unfortunate fellow here was subject of quite a
brutal battering from mother nature herself. You see the bruising on the torso and
the limbs suggests that he was moved about by the tide with quite some force,
the cuts are due to the coral and rocks along the shore where his body had been rubbed and scraped
along the rough surface for quite some time."
"COD?"
"Ah, now thats a little more tricky you see these cuts to the backs of the legs suggest
that they were made before the time of death but the other cuts were not, and the lungs
were also surprisingly not filled with water."
"So he was killed then thrown into the water during a storm perhaps?"
"It would seem that way Jethro if it wasn't for this here."

Ducky opens the victim's mouth and shows a green discolouration to the back of the throat.

"This case has all the signs of a body dump apart from this."
"What are we looking at?"
"Well that i'm afraid that is Abbys department."
"Thanks Duck."

Gibbs heads towards the Bull pit, as ducky continues his usual conversations with the victim.

Tony is at his desk with McGee, Kate, Victoria, and Emma all huddled around as they exchange stories
of their bosses and finding out that they may not be too different.

"Did you know that Gibbs once gave us a days worth of paperwork when the director told him
another agent was joining us?" Says Tony
"Veron once made us all re-do our reports because he was told he would have stand down on a case!" says Victoria
"Gibbs once got really mad because a reporter spilled his coffee!" Says McGee
"Veron once poured Pepsi all over my computer because i got him diet instead of regular" Says Emma.
"Wow they are so alike!" Says Kate

At that moment Ziva runs towards the group and she is obviously excited about something.

"Gibbs......Veron......MTAC......NOW" she said between breaths

All of a sudden the whole group runs to the conference room to hear loud shouting and crashing of something.

"You have outstayed your welcome Special Agent Veron!"
"The only thing you have overstayed Special Agent Gibbs is your retirement!"

All of the agents are in the doorway looking at the two bosses arguing like dogs.

"They are just like big kids!" Tony says laughing.
"One more word DiNozzo and you will wake up tomorrow with the biggest headache!" Gibbs has that look
on his face like he is going to kill someone. And that someone at that moment could be Tony.
"Busted!" Victoria says in between giggles.
"Smith, just you try it!" snaps Veron

Apart from Tony and Victoria they are all in fits of laughter virtually rolling around on the floor.

"OUT!" both Gibbs and Veron shout in unison.

With that the agents leave quickly because they know when this is all over it is going to come
back and hit them twice as hard.

Chapter 4: LAST MAN STANDING

Meanwhile Abby is in her lab music blairing as she searches through databases and files as well as analysing
the bullets and gun. she picks up the phone and dials Gibbs' cell number.

"Gibbs" says the slight angry tones man on the other end.
"Gibbs i've got something!" Abby says with excitement.
"On my way Abs" Gibbs says hurring out the door of MTAC on the way to her lab.

The other agents are all huddled around Tony's desk again as hearing the door open makes them all scatter
like bugs after having the light turned on wherever they were hiding.

"Abby's found something!" Gibbs says as the tone in his voice gives them an invitation to join him.
"On your six boss!" Tony says.

On entering the lab Gibbs turns Abby's music down so that he can hear himself think.

"Ahh Gibbs, I have some good news and some bad news!" Abbys says
Gibbs just gives that icy cold stare he gives everyone when he is waiting for them to speak.
"Ok right, well the bad news is that the bullets from our vic are giving me nothing I can't find
any visible marks, fingerprints, residue, nothing!" says Abby
"And the Good news?" Says Tony
"I was just getting to that!" says abby
"Well get to it faster!" Gibbs snapps.
"Ok, The gun is a 84 cheetah, 380 auto caliber pistol manufactured in Garndone Italy by Beretta U.S.A."
"And whats so special about it?" Tony asks getting impatient.
"smack" Gibbs' hand hits the back of his head and a small 'ow' sound escapes Tony's mouth
"Shutting up boss!" he says
"Thank you Gibbs!" Says Abby giving Tony an evil stare, "Even though these are a commonly used weapon,
this one is military issue and heavily used by someone who was dumb enough not to clean it ever but also
clever enough to leave no evidence of fingerprints or epithelials on the grip or the barrel they also wiped
out the serial number so it was most likely either sold through the black market."
"Or someones using it as a cover up!" Gibbs says finishing her sentence for her "Good work Abby" he says
planting a kiss on her left cheek and then leaves the lab heading for the elevator.

Back in the bullpen Gibbs sets his team off to do their usual information finding jobs.

"Dinozzo, Kate i want everything i need to know about this petty officer Aariano Greco!","McGee, David i
need information on a navy engineer Andrew Segal pull everything you can address, phone number, the ship
he is currently assigned to, asap."
"On it boss" the four reply.

"Agent Gibbs" says Veron, "That won't be necessary, we already have him in interrogation room one, I have
Agent Smith in there now getting all the information we need"
"What do you mean WE?" Gibbs says inquisitively
"Well while you were having your rave in that room you call a lab I had my people look up the exact same
information yours are doing right now!"
"And how did you know about our test findings?"
"I didn't bring a forensic specialist with me for nothing Agent Gibbs!" Veron says slightly cocky.

Gibbs slams his hands down on his keyboard which makes the computer bleep several dozen times to signify the
key has been pressed which drives him even more mad.

"You do know that it is a sign of weakness to show anger" Veron says matter of factly.
"Agent Veron, elevator, now!" Gibbs barks his orders.
"That would be your conference room, right?" veron signifies 'conference room' with his fingers.
Gibbs is slightly confused as to how agent Veron could have known that and it adds to his anger.
"Yes, NOW!"

They both step into the elevator as the doors close Gibbs presses the button for ground floor level after a
few seconds his switces the lift of as the emergency power light comes on and there is an eerie silence between
the two for what seems like an eternity. Finally Gibbs begins to talk in a low controlled tone of voice.

"I'm not happy with this situation Agent Veron!"
Agent veron is about to open his mouth when Gibbs raises his hand to signal for him to be silent.
"Now either we do this investigation separately like we are now and all hell breaks loose, or we can find a way
to work together to get this case solved and then you can be on your way and out of my face!"

Gibbs is starting to get a little angry now at what he is saying there is a change in his voice it sounds uneasy
and strained because he knows that it sounds like he is giving in and everyone knows thats not the way he does
things but it just seems like at this moment in time Special Agent Veron doesn't seem to be going anywhere and
the quicker Gibbs can get rid of them the better. He will never live this one down the whole team will be asking
questions and will lose a little bit of respect for him that he has built up the few years (in Ziva's case months)
it will be destroyed and he will have to start over again but for now he is just going to have to live with it.

"Fine, but we need to be clear on this I don't want any behind the back investigation work!" Agent Veron forces

After what seems like a year Gibbs takes a deep breath.

"Fine, but i will have to see all of your materials in this case before we go any firther!" Gibbs says forcefully
"Deal!", "Its great doing business with you Agent Gibbs!" Veron says

A smile across his lips begins to appear, as he knows that he has won this round. Agent Veron 1, Gibbs 0.

Chapter 5: WAITING GAME

The agents exit the lift one with a huge smile on his face the other a look as black as thunder. The two agents
quicky arrange a time for their conference meeting to tell thier agent what they are going to expect for the rest
of this case which for Gibbs is more difficult than what it will be for his agents to handle. There is a loud noise
in the bull pit with eveyone sharing stories and tales that they do not realise the two bosses staing behind them,
Gibbs wolf-whistles and instantly the room is deadly quiet.

"There will be a meeting in the directors office at thirteen hundred everyone is to be there, is that clear?"
"Crystal boss!" Tony, Kate, Ziva and McGee reply.
"That means you two aswell!" Agent Veron snaps.
"Yes, boss!" Smith and Emma respond.
"Someone inform Abby!" says Gibbs
"Sure boss" McGee says but he is still on his computer looking at encrypted files.
"Now McGee!" Gibbs shouts.

McGee starts walking to the elivator and passes Gibbs who gives him an evil look and McGee walks quicker almost
to the point where he is running, he is not going to get on Gibbs' bad side even if it kills him.

It is almost 1 o'clock and Gibbs, Tony, McGee, Kate, Ziva and Abby are in the Director's office with the Director
waiting for Agent Veron and his team to join them. The hour comes and goes and still 10 minuites later there is
no sign of Agent Veron, Agent Smith or Emma. Gibbs looks at his watch and getting more and more impatient as the
time ticks away. It has now been twenty minuites since the meeting was meant ot start and Gibbs is almost to the
point when he will call the whole deal off when the door opens and Agent Veron and his team walk in with a huge smile on their faces.

"Agent Gibbs, Director" Veron says smugly
"Agent Veron, Agent Smith, Emma, how very nice of you to join us" The director says sarcasticly
"The pleasure is all mine!" He says smiling an award winning grin.
"Could we please get this over and done with?" Agent Gibbs says with anger in his voice.
"Certainly" Agent veron says "Where shall we start?" the grin on his face is getting bigger and bigger and the more
he sees Gibbs clenching his teeth the more the smile expands.

They begin to talk about the case that they have so far when they hear a knock at the door. Every one looks around at
the Director who obviously doesn't open her own office door very often as usually Cynthia "filters traffic" as Jen calls
it and Gibbs has heard this on many occations.

"Enter" the Director says in a anticipated tone. The door opens and ducky enters in his full autopsy uniform even the gloves.
"I'm sorry to interrupt my dear, but there is something i need to talk to Jethro about and it is quite the emergency!"
The familiar soft voice says.
"Whats up Duck?" Jethro says calmy.

A giggle comes from Tony who obviously found the previous question funny and gets exactly what he usually gets when he
laughs at something silly, a smack around the head.

"Thanks boss!" Tony says with slight pain in his voice.
"Jethro can I have a word outside?" Ducky says
"Sure Duck!" Gibbs says and walks out of the office.

The others are soon to start talking and Tony laughing as soon a Gibbs walks out of the door which they do but are interrupted by the director.

"Agent Veron would you like to keep this meeting going?" Jen says
"With pleasure Director" Veron says smugly "Agent Gibbs and I have decided that in order for this team to work effectively
we will need to be split up into different smaller teams for the time being"
"How are planning on doing that boss?" Victoria says
"Well we have decided that the teams will be as follows" Veron continues "Agent DiNozzo with be with Agent Todd, Agent Smith
will be with Officer David, Agent McGee will be with Miss Sciuto and Miss Harvey, Agent Gibbs and I will handle the rest with
a little help from the Director I hope?"
"Absolutely Agent Veron anything I can do to help, just let me know" Jen replys
"Very well Director, that will be all, thank you" Veron finishes.

The meeting finishes and they all exit the Director's office where they see Gibbs and Ducky talking it is obviously something
serious because Gibbs has got that "something's hinky" look on his face. They continue to talk for a few minuites and as Ducky
is leaving he says to Gibbs,

"You have got to let them know Jethro, you can't keep them in the dark!"
"I know Duck" Gibbs says "I just don't want them to panic and things go wrong, you know how I hate that!"
"I'll leave it to you" Ducky says as he heads to the elevator.

Chapter 6: DOUBLE VISION

In the Bullpen, Kate and Tony are arguing again about the difference between men and women.

"I can't believe you just said that Tony!" Kate says
"What? I just think that women should always look done up when in male company!" Tony says with a huge grin on his face.
"Done up? what do you mean by that?" Kate asks
"Well they should wear something revealing and have their hair nice and make it easier for us to undress them" Tony says
"Why do you always want to undress us with your eyes?" Kate asks
"Not just with our eyes Kate!" Tony says with smirk on his face which lets Kate know what he is thinking.
"You are such a pig Tony!" Kate says
"What ever you say Kate you know you want me!" Tony says brushing his fingers through his hair
"Never!" Kate shouts.

Gibbs and Veron enter exit the elevator just as kate shouts and they both pause and consider going back in the
elevator as Kate shouting means that Tony has obviously done or said something wrong and arguing with her on a
friday afternoon is not a great idea. As they walk past Tony and Kate's Desks, Veron notices the death stare that
Kate is giving Tony who is obviously not bothering to even take any notice of.

"In Trouble with the missus Agent DiNozzo?" Agent Veron says
"Excuse me?" Kate snaps
"I see why you keep away from her today" Veron says to Gibbs and Tony
"What!!!" Kate says

Gibbs, Tony and Veron all look at each other and smile.

"Well I am not going stay here where I am not wanted!" Kate says as she slams her things on the desk for dramatical effect.
She gets up and starts walking to the elevator.

"Pigs! I work with pigs!" Kate says entering the elevator and pressing the button that will take her down to the lab.

The doors to the elevator open and Kate walks into Abby's lab where she sees Abby and McGee playing with something on the
computer looking way too close to be called 'nothing' she is sitting on his knee while both of them are typing on the same
keyboard which they tend to do nowadays as it seems to be fun for them and quicker to process results for Gibbs. In the back
room Emma is looking at something which Kate identifies as the gun that was brought in from the body they found a week ago that
is becoming a more complex case as time goes on.

"Hey Abby, McGee!" Kate says
"Kate!" Abby says without turning around or stopping what she is doing.
"Hey Kate!" McGee says turning to look at her.
"Timmy, I can't do this alone!" Abby says turning McGee's head back to the computer screen with hundreds of codes flashing
on and off of it.
"Sorry Abby!" McGee says
"At least thats one man that can apologise without being tortured first!" Kate says
"Bad day?" Abby asks still looking at the screen.
"You can say that!" Kate says
"I take it Tony's done something?" McGee asks
"He is being a pig again!" Kate says anger is apparent in her voice.
"Just try to ignore him!" Abby says
"Its ok for you! You don't have to be with him nearly all day!" Kate says
"You know the first sign of Love is hate Kate!" Abbys says turning to look at her.
"Me and Tony?" Kate says laughing "That is never going to happen!"

Abby turns back to the screen and both her and McGee start to smile as they both know that Kate and Tony may just
like each other more than they say they do and they will try anything to get them together even if they have to hurt
someone in the process. Just as their smiles dissapear Kate's phone rings.

"Todd" Kate says
"Ok, where?" Kate says
"I'll get McGee and meet you there!" Kate says

With that McGee and Abby both turn around and look at kate who puts down the phone.

"McGee, weve got another body!" Kate says
"Where?" McGee asks
"The address is 1805 Sunrise Place" she says heading towards the elevator.

McGee gets up from the chair and Abby sits down on the vacated seat. McGee grabbs his jacket and heads towards the
elevator when he realises that he had forgotton his phone. He turns around and goes to pick it up. Kate is in the
elevator and tells him that she will meet him in the parking lot. He picks up his phone, turns Abbys chair around and
gives her a small soft kiss and then runs towards the elevator pressing the button for the parking lot.

"Wow Timmy" Abby says turning back towards the computer screen "You suprise me" she says smiling and begining to type.

The team get to the scene to see two police cars and what looks to be an old steel shed to the right of an abandoned looking house.
They all get out of the car and split up into their teams. Tony and Kate go inside the house to search the contents of the house for any evidence
they can find, Ziva and Victoria interview the owners of the house and the police officer who arrived at the scene first,
McGee goes on his own to sketch and photo the scene and Gibbs and Veron go to see the body and to meet up with Ducky.

The body is almost an identical to the other body they found at quantico a week ago. The face is a replica of the other
and they seem to have been related in some way. The arms and legs are bruised, the nails have red scrapings under them
and they are missing 2 nails from each hand. The torso has two bullet holes through the back and stab wounds to the
chest and legs. The feet have shoes on although they are worn and dirty. The sailor is fully clothed and tears to the
backs of the legs of the pants reveal two large open cuts and also the same discolouration is found in the mouth.
The only thing that is different is that the body has been dismembered and forced into a large oil drum and that the
body is missing 3 fingers. The little fingers from both hands and the thumb of the left hand are missing.

"What have we got here Duck?" Gibbs asks
"I really don't know Jethro I will have to take him back to autopsy as he is a mess" Ducky says
"Allright Duck i'll meet you there" Gibbs says

Gibbs walks towards the car where Agent Veron is talking to Agent Victoria as he opens the car door.

"Lets go" Gibbs snaps
"I am not one of your team Gibbs!" Veron says
"Get in! Now!" Gibbs shouts and everyone stops and looks at gibbs.
"Everyone back to work! no one is leaving untill this place is clear!" Gibbs shouts
"Yes Boss!" Everyone says in unison

Agent Veron Gets into the car and Gibbs speeds off into the distance. Gibbs 1, Agent Veron 1.

Chapter 7: INFORMATION HIGHWAY

It is about 3am and Ziva and Tony are at their desks tony is playing tetris on his phone and Ziva is looking through files of various suspects.

"There is nothing here tony!" Ziva says throwing down the file onto a larger pile spread out on her desk.
"Its 3am ziva no one's here you can take a break you know." Tony says relaxed
"Is that right Dinozzo?" Gibbs says from behind Tony

Tony jumps to his feet looking shocked and tenses his neck waiting for Gibbs to slap the back of his head.

"Im not going to smack ur head Dinozzo" Gibbs says
"Your not boss?" Tony asks smiling and relieved

Just as he says that he gets a swift smack to the back of the head his face changing expression immediately as Ziva smiles at him obviously amused.

"Abby needs us in her lab she has found something!" Gibbs informs them.

Ziva and Tony follow Gibbs to the elevator and down to the lab.

As they enter the lab they see Abby staring into the other side of the lab where McGee and Emma are working on a computer program and are
laughing and looking quite close.

"What have you got for us Abs?" Gibbs asks
"I found out what the green dicolouration sample was on the victim's mouth that Ducky gave me" Abby says angrily
"it is from something called a red tide"
"Something wrong Abby?" Gibbs asks unamused at the tone.
"You know Gibbs they have been like that for over and hour and i.." Abby says upset
"Abby!" Gibbs barks
"Sorry Gibbs" She says

The elevator dings and Veron and Smith enter the lab holding a memory stick in an evidence bag.

"Gibbs we have something you might want to see" Veron says
"What is it?" Gibbs asks
"We found this while looking through the items in that abandoned house at the crime scene, seems a little expensive to be left in an
abandoned house don't you think?" Smith says

Veron looks through the glass in the lab to see Emma and McGee laughing and workingon the computer, he is not looking amused.

"Emma! here, now!" he shouts

Emma stops laughing and looks up over the computer screen at her boss.

"Yes boss!" she says

Emma walks up to her boss and he gives her a death stare Gibbs would be proud of.

"Don't you ever ignore me when there is an important case we need to solve!" he snapps
"I'm so sorry boss!" she says directly
"I did not bring you here to pick up men!" he informs her

The whole team fall silent as Veron belittles his younger team member.

"Is he always like this?" Ziva whispers to Victoria
"Only when he feels we have screwed up!" She whispers back

Veron looks at everyone sternly and asks "Can we get back to work now eh?"

"Yeah as i was saying, this red tide is Not every plant poisoning is caused by a large, terrestrial plant. Several microscopic marine
algae are notoriously poisonous to hapless humans who consume them in shellfish. These Algae are tiny, single-celled plants that,
like plants on land, capture and use the sun's energy to grow. The growth of algae is an essential life process, as it is the first
step in transferring solar energy into aquatic food webs. The huge variety of marine algae are typically subject to annual cycles of
growth & decay. These organisms thrive and multiply principally during the spring and summer, in response to increased light intensity
and favourable levels of salinity & nutrients in ocean water. During the growth period, or bloom, each single algae cell may replicate
itself one million times in two to three weeks." She says

"What has this got to do with the victim's death?" Veron asks

"During the reproductive riot of the bloom, warm, shallow seawater tends to become discoloured by the sheer concentration of algae
seeking the sunlight. This discolouration is a result of the various pigments the plants use to trap sunlight; depending on the species
of algae present, the water may reflect pink, violet, orange, yellow, blue, green, brown, or red. Since red is the most common pigment,
the phenomenon has come to be called Red Tide." she says

So what has this got to do with the victim?" Veron asks again

"Most species contributing to algal blooms are harmless, BUT another big but!" she says

"Just like Tony's" Ziva says and recieves a smack to the head from Gibbs.

"some species are poisonous to animals which feed upon them directly or indirectly. Some of the toxins these species produce are seriously toxic.
Often, the algae themselves are unaffected, as are the filter feeders, especially shellfish, for whom micro-algae are the principal diet.
However, to carnivores further up the food chain, including humans, these toxins are potentially fatal!" She adds

"so what does this Red tide do to humans?" Gibbs asks

"As in the case of poisonous fungi, scientific knowledge of poisonous algae is incomplete; indeed, new and alarming toxic algae are still
coming to light. In Nova Scotia, however, three different algae are known to cause three, distinct, severe to deadly poisonings Alexandrium causes
Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning, Dinophysis causes Diarrhetic Shellfish Poisoning, Pseudo-nitzschia multiseries causes Amnesic
Shellfish Poisoning" Abby informs the group

"So what does this mean Abs?" Gibbs asks

"The victim ingested it sometime before his death" she says

"We need to canvas the area near where the body was found and also the victim's residence and talk to any family, friends or co-workers" Veron says

Veron hands the evidence bag he is holding from when he came in to Emma, "You know what to do" he nods and heads towards the elevator with the
rest of the group, McGee enters the room.

"Don't talk to me McGee!" she says and begins to run the DNA from the victim Ducky had given her.
"What did i do?" he asks surprised
"Just leave me!" she says and turns her back to him
"Fine! i was having more fun with Emma anyway!" he says to her

Emma enters the room as they finish fighting.

"Tim, i need your help with something" she says
"Coming Emma!" he says

He returns to the other room and you hear them talking and then they both laugh.

"I can't believe he would rather be with her!" she says quietly to herself and she turns to her computer which is scanning through fingerprints
on the AFIS database.

"I'll teach him!" she says to herself.

CHAPTER 8: TONY AND KATE

It is now 6am and Ziva, and Victoria are looking through case files of similar murders, Tony and Kate are taking a break in Tony's car,
Emma and McGee are working on the evidence that was brought in my Veron and Smith, Abby is working on the DNA and fingrprint analysis while Gibbs,
Veron and the Director are in MTAC arguing with the secretary of the navy over holding a ship ready for a 6 month departure to Iraq for fears
the killer may be on it.

Kate and Tony are sitting quietly in Tony's car, it is quiet and Kate is struggling to keep her eyes open.

"Kate, Kate, wake up!" Tony says quielty
"I'm awake Tony!" Kate says tiredly
"Just making sure you weren't sleeping on the job" he says
"How is that possible? i have been awake since Gibbs called us in yesterday morning at 7am, i am so tired i wouldn't be able to sleep
if i could!" she says

Tony reaches over to kate and puts a hand on her shoulder and begins to massage it.

"Tony, please don't" She says
"I'm just giving you a massage, i'm not asking you to sleep with me!" Tony says

They look into each others eyes and Kate realises that Tony is actually being sincere she smiles at him and he smiles back. she puts her
hand on top of Tony's.

"Ok, thank you Tony" she says

"You really are a nice guy Tony" Kate says continuing to smile
"Why thank you Kate" Tony says his head getting bigger by the minute.

They continue to smile at each other as Tony slowly massages Kate's shoulder, they suddenly both feel something that they never thought
was possible between them.

"I wonder if Kate feels the same way i do?" he thinks to himself

"Can Tony change? i see him with so many different women, could he stay with me if i told him how i feel?" she asks herself.

They both slowly move towards each other getting closer and closer until their faces are inches apart and just at that moment Kate's
phone begins to ring. Surprized by the ringing she quickly picks it up.

"Kate" she answers
"Where are you?" Gibbs questions
"In the parking garage taking a break" she says
"Have you seen DiNozzo?" he asks
"Yeah he is here with me" she says turning a deeper shade of red.
"Well get your butts back up here we have a suspect in custody!" Gibbs informs
"We'll be right there" she says, as Gibbs cuts her off

In interrogation room 1 Gibbs is interrogating a suspect brought in by Ziva and Victoria, as Tony and Kate observe they nervously look
at each other several times but neither of them say anything untill Tony, still observing the interrogation begins to ask questions.

"Do you think he did it?" he asks
"Do what?" Kate asks thingking still about what had happened in the parking garage
"Kill those two marines, are you even listening?" he asks
"Um... I don't know Tony" she stutters
"Are we ever gonna talk about it?" he asks
"About what?" she says
"About u?" he says
"There is no US Tony!" she says angrily

The room falls silent as Gibbs slamms his hands on the table, he is interogating A local dock worker but having no luck as he seems to
have no kn owlege of the murders or the fact that Gibbs is getting even angrier as the interrogation goes on.

"I need coffee!" he says "DiNozzo?" he calls from the room
"Yes boss?" he says over the loud speaker
"Get me coffee!" he barks
"On it boss!" he says jumping to the door

He opens the door and stops turning to look at Kate she is staring into space facing the two way mirror.

"Dinner?" he asks
"Huh?" she says
"How about dinner?" he says
"I don't know Tony" she says
"Look Kate, its just dinner nothing needs to go beyond that, just give me a chance?" he says using his Italian puppy dog eyes
"Fine, but just dinner, ok?" she says
"I'll pick you up at 8?" he asks
"Yes, that would be great" she says smiling

Tony closes the door and goes to get Gibbs his coffee.

"This is your one chance Anthony don't mess it up!" his says to himself

"Maybe he has changed" she thinks to herself

CHAPTER 9: THE DATE

Kate was so nervous, she knew that Tony would probably do something stupid like stare at another woman right infront of her on their date,
could she even call it that? she had said to herself that she was not going to be one of Tony's one night wonders but knowing Tony the
way she did made her stomach turn and she started to regret to saying yes.

The rest of the day had gone by so fast and here it was 7 30 and she was in her new dress that she had brought on the off chance
she would ever have a date again. She fixed her make up and hair she slightly curled it as she knew Tiny had commented on it the first time
that had gone to a dinner with the agency and so she decided she would make a effort to really make an impression on him.

Tony was sitting in his car outside Kate's appartment where he had been for the last 10 minutes, he was breathing rapidly and his
stomach turned in knots thing about how Kate would feel if he told he how much he secretly liked her. he let out a breath as he
opened the door and proceded to Kates door. He had never been more nervous than tonight and he just wanted to make sure everything went
smoothly.

He rang the doorbell and waited her Kate to answer, after what seemed like an eternity Kate opened the door and Tony stood their with his
mouth open like he had just seen the most beautiful woman in the world.

"Wow" he said under his breath

Kate was wearing a floor length red dress that clung to every inch of her toned body the dress fitted perfectly, it had an intricate strap
pattern down the back of the dress which exposed most of her back, the low cut fron topped of the dress n Tony's eyes he was never more content
with his feelings for her than he did that moment. Her hair was just the way he liked it on her and he knew that tonight was going to be one
of those nights he was never going to forget.

"are you ready?" Kate asked nevously
"Oh yeah!" Tony said smiling and holding out his arm for Kate to link with as he walked her to his car.

[IMG]http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f14/Mrs_McGee/edressme_1914_16715553.jpg[/IMG]

The date so far was perfect, Tony had opened the car door for her, she loved when he mad an effort she knew that tonight was going to be more
than just a date and would hopefully last longer than just tonight but she was going to take it as it comes. Tony had worn her favourite shirt
it was a white and tan striped shirt and stonewashed jeans, she had commented once on how nice he had looked in it at the annual christmas ball
and he had obviously been listening to her.

[IMG]http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f14/Mrs_McGee/NCIS/Tony/DiNozzo10.jpg[/IMG]

The restaurant was only a few blocks from her appartment but it was still quite a walk in the heels kate was wearing, they were new and everytime
she walked in them she knew that her feet would pay for that in the morning, but at this moment in time she didn't care her mind was too focused
on how gentlemanly Tony was being.

It was Kate's favourite restaurant as she had been here with Abby two weeks ago to celebrate Kate moving into her new appartment and she had not
stopped going on about it all day as she knew that it would annoy Tony and hopefully to drop a few hints, she had spoken to abby about her
feelings for Tony for a while now and Abby had said that it was a possibility that Tony had mentioned something to someone about asking Kate out
for a date but having no idea where to take her or how best to ask her.

"I love this place" Kate said stepping out of the car
"Really i had no idea" he said smiling

They walked into the restaurant, it was perfect, Tony had reserved a table in the corner of the restaurant with the view over a small lake that was lit up
beautifully.

[IMG]http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f14/Mrs_McGee/Buttermere_Ash_Tree_1540-23rs.jpg[/IMG]

"Oh Tony, its perfect!" She said speachless
"Do you like it?" he asked
"I love it" she replied

They ate most of their meal in silence, taking in each other and the surroundings, everything was perfect, Kate could not have wished for more.

After they had finished eating their main meal Tony smiled and reached his hand over the table and Kate put hers in his, they fitted together
like a hand in a glove, they smiled at each other. Nothing could ruin this moment not even Gibbs calling telling them they have a new case.

"I had been waiting so long to ask you on a date" Tony said nervously
"I'm so glad you did" Kate says squeezing Tonys had tighter
"I can't believe i'm here, with you" Tony says
"I have been wanting to tell you how i feel for ages" Kate says
"Really?" Tony asks
"Yeah i was talking to Abby yesterday and she told me to tell you" Kate says
"Well i have been Takilng to Abby to and she told me the same thing" Tony says
"I'm glad she did" Kate says
"Me too" Tony says as the waitress brings their desserts

The rest of the evening went by so fast they hadn't realised that they were the last ones in the restaurant and the waitress was trying to give them
the signal that they needed to leave as they were closing. Tony paid the bill and they headed to the car hand in hand.

"I had a really great time Tony!" Kate says smiling from ear to ear
"Me too" Tony says
"I know this is a little forward but would you like to go to my place for coffee?" Tony asks knowing that this was his usual line for every date
he has been on.
"I'd love to" Kate says a little to quick for her liking and not knowing if he asks every one of his dates that question.

Tony held out her the door and Kate got in, he was cursing to himself as he made his way to the drivers side door.

"Your going too quick DiNozzo!" he says to himslef
"I'd love to" Kate says sarcastically to herself

The drive to Tony's apartment was filled with tension as neither Kate or Tony could think of anything clever to say incase they said something
wrong, so it felt like a lifetime before they got there. Toyn and Kate walked up to the front door holding hands which for Kate was a good sign
as she thought she came on a bit too strong before when asks if she would like to go back to Tony's for coffee. Tony unlocked the door and opened
it allowing Kate to enter first.

Tony's apartment was a true bachellor pad, big screen T.V. games console in the centre of the room, leather settee and recliner chair,
expenive glass coffee table and fridge filled with alcoholic beverages.

"Make yourself at home" Tony says locking the door behind him taking Kate's coat and hanging his coat on the rack also.
"Its a beautiful place Tony" Kate says
"Thanks, but as you know i don't get to spend any time in it when we are working all the time" he says
"Yeah" she says
"Would you like a drink?" He saks her
"Yeah sure" she answers
"I have some wine if you're interested?" Tony asks from the kitchen
"That would be great" Kate says sitting herself on the three seater settee

Tony enter sht eroom holing an open bottle of red wine and two glasses, he site on the opposite end of the settee to Kate and pours a glass of wine
for Kate and passing it to her. He then pours a glass for himself and sits at an angle facing Kate.

"Thanks" Kate says taking the glass of wine

They spend a few minutes smiling at each other taking a few sips of wine and trying to think of something, anything to say to break the nervous
silence. Tony, realising the silence grabs the remote for the stereo and pressed the ON botton, Celine Dion's My heart will go on begins and
Tony lowers it so that it is just background music.

"So Kate have you been seeing anyone lately?" Tony asks breaking the silence
"There was this one guy, David but i haven't heard from him in weeks, he really wasn't the guy for me" she says staring at her wine glass
"what was wrong with him?" Tony asks
"We just never had the spark, you know?" Kate says turning towards Tony
"I know what you mean, i went on a date a few weks ago with this girl called Amy but she was far too posh for me" Tony says

Tony refills their glasses as Kutless' Promise of a lifetime plays out of the speakers

"So what about Ziva?" Kate asks
"What about Ziva" Tony asks surprised
"Well there seems to be something between you and her i was just wondering if you had thought about it?" Kate asks
"There is nothing between me and Ziva" Tony says
"Well you two seemed to be rather convincing while you were undercover for the case when you had to be married, while i was away" kate says
"That was just for the job, to make it look convincing" Tony says
"I know but it just hurt to see you with her being that intimate with each other." Kate says
"The whole time i was with her i was thinking about you" Tony says moving closer to Kate
"Really?" she asks
"Yeah really, i love you Kate, nothing is gong to change that!" Tony says
"I love you too Tony!" she says

Tony puts his arm around her and she leans into his chest, they have both never been as happy as they are when they are together at this moment,
after a few minutes kate lifts her head and smiles at Tony, he smiles back at her and they share their first kiss as Faith Hill sings
If i'm not in love with you.

The next morning Tony awakens to an empty bed, did he just dream that he and Kate spent the night together, he was sure they had, he listened
for signs that she might be in the appartment but couldn't hear anything, he could smell her on him, it couldn't have been a dream.

He sat up and looked around the room, he could see Kate's shoes that had been thrown on the floor and the bag that was on the chair by the door
but still no sign of Kate. He got out of bed and put on some shorts and went into the bathroom and still she was not there. He wandered down
the hall towards the kitchen eveything was unused so he knew she must have left before breakfast, but wothout her shoes? how was that possible?

He walked towards the living room and noticed that the door was slightly open, he ran back to his bedroom, opened his drawer and took out his sig,
he walked back towards the living room arms outstretched clearing every room between his bedroom and the living room, he turned the corner from
the kitchen to see his coffee table broken in peices on the floor and blood all over the place.

The light on his answer machine was blinking so he crossed carefully to the phone avoiding the glass on the floor and pressed the play button.

"If you wanna see your precious little Kate again you will have to do everything i say!" the strange voice said

CHAPTER 10: Taken

All of a sudden Tony can hear ringing coming from is bedroom, shaken up realising what has happened, he runs to the bedroom and realises that
Kate's phone is ringing, he crosses the room picks up her bag and takes out the cell phone.

"Abs!" Tony says
"Hey Tony, did we have a good night then?" Abby says
"Abs, Kates gone!" Tony says panic stricken
"What do you mean she's gone? she is probably making you guys breakfast or something, you know what..."Abby says before being cut off
"Someone's taken her, my coffee table's broken there is blood everywhere and my front door been left open! some bastards taken her!"
tony says without taking a breath
"Ok Tony, stay there We'll come and get you!" Abby says tearfully
"Hurry Abs!" Tony says scared

The sound of the phone being put down rings in Tony's ears, is this really happening? i have waited forever to be with Kate and she is taken
away from me before we have a chance to experience anything together. Tony sits in the edge of his bed and waits for the team to arrive.

Three cars pull up and Gibbs, Veron and Abby are the first to enter the crime scene a.k.a. Tony's apartment, Ziva and Smith are next to exit
their car followed by McGee and Emma in the third car. they all head towards the apartment carful not to disturb the crime scene just incase
there is a slight peice of eveidence that could help them find Kate.

"I need this procesed like a crime scene, McGee bag and tag, ziva pictures" Gibbs barks his orders
"Smith scetch, and Emma help McGee bag and tag" Veron tells his agents

Gibbs, Veron and Abby make their way to Tony's bedroom, on seeing Tony, Abby hugs Tony.

"Abs, we need you to step away so we can process DiNozzo, you know the drill" Gibbs says calmly
"I know boss" Abby says letting go of Tony
"Boss, i'm sorry!" Tony says his head down looking at the floor
"I Know DiNozzo but i have to do this, its procedure" Gibbs says
"I understand boss" Tony says

After all the evidence is collected and Tony is showered, changed and more alive they all make their way back to the NCIS building, everyone
knows what to do it is a routine they have perfected for nearly 2 years and without any direction from Gibbs they all scatter to different areas
to help find and bring back Kate alive.

Kate lies on a bed still wearing the dress she wore last night only it is not on a neat and is dirty and has blood stains all over it, she opens
and struggles to adjust to the light coming through a small window in front of her, she is sweaty and dirty and has a vaigue memory of what
happened last night, she remembers being in a restaurant with DiNozzo going back to his place, having wine, music....

"Oh god! did i sleep with him?" she says out loud and hears her echo mimic the words back.
"Where the hell am i?" she asks herself

She tries to move but her hands and feet are tied to an old iron rusty bed, her head is throbbing and she now sees the blood stains on her
arms legs and dress, she sees that she has loads of tiny little cuts all over her and hse cannot remember for the life of her where she could
have got those cuts from.

"Hello?" she says her voice echoes around the room
"Hello? can anybody hear me?" she shouts only to hear herself as the question again and again.

Think Kate, What would Gibbs Do?, oh great i am now quoting DiNozzo, i should have just stayed home last night then i wouldn't be in this mess,
trust your instincts Kate, but no you had to go on a date with him, but it was a great date and he did look gorgeous. No Kate focus! gotta
find a way to get out of here, right first i got to get this chain off my wrists and legs.

After a few minutes of thinking, Kate's head throbbed, she wondered how much she had drank last night but couldn't remember how much she had drank
she heard a noise from somewhere, it was definately moving going from right to left and then back again, she waited a few seconds to see if it
returned and the second time she called out to see if the noise had been someone, anyone who could probably get her out of here.

"Hello?" she called again, nothing
"Hello, can you hear me?" she asked again

The noise stopped and she thought she heard someone breathing but she couldn't be certain as she had no idea where she was so she could have heard
the wind or breeze blowing through a crack in the window, a door or a wall.

After what seemed like an eternity Kate heard a door open and then close, she could hear footsteps coming towards her they were getting louder
and louder, closer and closer until she could hear them behind her and them coming to a stop just above her head. She shook as her kidnapper
showed his face to her and stroked her hair.

"Remember me Kate?" he said smiling

Chapter 11: Come find me

Tony is in Abby's lab worrying about Kate, Gibbs has told him that he is advising Tony to stay out of the case as his personal feelings may get
in the way and comprimise the investigation, he understand where Gibbs is coming from but really wants to nail the bastards that have taken
Kate away from him.

"She will be ok Tony" Abby says running the blood evidence through vigorus tests
"I just can't help but think it is all my fault!" Tony says angrily
"Its not you fault Tony!" Abby says comforting him
"If i hadn't have asked her back to my place she would be here with us safe and sound" Tony says defeated
"We'll get her back Tony you'll see" Abby says trying to reassure him and herself

Gibbs, Veron and the Director are in MTAC trying to sort out a search team to look for Kate, they aren't having much luck as it happens to be
the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and all the emergency services are going to pay their respects. There is no way that a search party would
be able to start looking for Kate before tomorrow.

"This is highly important one of my agents is missing presumed dead, do you not understand that?"
"I understand your problem agent Gibbs, but there is nothing we can do" Arnold Croft says
"Bull shit!" Gibb shouts and the Director winces
"I'm sure we can come to some sort of argreement Mr Croft?" the Director asks using the business approach
"I'm sorry Director there is nothing i can do" Croft says and terminates the feed
"You Bastard!" Gibbs shouts and throws the headset on the floor
"It's just you and me Gibbs" Veron says
"Oh great!" Gibbs says

In the Lab Abby, McGee, Tony and Emma are all talking and examining evidence when Gibbs walks holding a Caff-pow.

"What you got for me Abs?" Gibbs asked sounding pissed off
"It doesn't look good Gibbs, i tested the blood from Tony's appartment and all 5 samples came from Kate" Abby says solumly
"Good work Abs, what about he prints?" Gibbs asks
"I am running them through AFIS but currently no hits" She says
"McGee, any luck finding the phone records?" Gibbs asks
"Sorry boss seems like the call was not placed to Tony's phone but pre-recorded and inserted in to the phone when they kidnapped Kate" he informs him
"Keep at it McGee" gibbs says
"Yes boss" he answers

In the bullpit Gibbs, Veron, Ziva and Smith are all going through case files calling important people who will be able to help with the search
to find Kate when all of a sudden the elevator bell rings.

"I hear your in need of some assistance?" Fornell says
"What are you doing here Tobias?" Gibbs asks
"Well when your director was having trouble getting a search party together she called me" Fornell informs him
"We don't need any help from feds now or ever!" Veron says
"Special Agent Veron i would say it was a pleasure to meet you but i would be lying" Fornell says sarcastically
"This is our case Fornell we don't need you or your monkeys!" Veron snaps
"We'll be leaving now" Ziva says and her and Smith walk onto the elevator

Ziva and Smith arrive at Kate's apartment and head towards the front door, they see that it is open and pull out their weapons and signal to each other,
Ziva will take the front while Smith will go round the back. they slowly move into position as if synchronised they both open the front and back
doors at the same time. They hear a noise in the bedroom and make their way down the corridor towards the bedroom, Smith is the the first to enter
the room and upon seeing the man she freezes and Ziva enters the room.

"Federal Agents put your hands in the air!" Smith shouts
"Turn around and face the wall!" Ziva says

They hold out their weapons towards the strange man, Ziva slowly walks over to the man and hancuffs him, he says nothing just looks at Ziva and then Smith.
As Ziva walks out of the bedroom with him he struggles and Ziva feels a sharp pain in her abdomen. He had been hiding a knife up his sleve and now the
blade is in Ziva. She lets him go to get the blade out as Smith runs after him. She manages to cath up with him long enough to get a good look at the
vehicle he gets into.

The white van speeds up the road and vanishes into the distance. Smith goes back inside the house to check on Ziva while calling for an ambulance.

"This is Agent Victoria Smith NCIS i need madical assistance at 129 Mount place road, we have an agent down, stab wound to the abomen!" she informs them

She enters the bedroom to find Ziva holding one of Kates scarves to her stomach to help stop the bleeding.

"How you holding up Ziva?" She asks
"It's not that bad it was only a short bladed knife, i've had worse!" Ziva says trying to hold in her pain
"i'm gonna call my boss and get them out here, this is our new crime scene" Smith says opening her cell

"Veron" He answers
"Boss we've got a problem" Smith says
"What is it?" he asks
"Ziva had been stabbed, we enterd Kate's apartment to find the door open and an intruder was in her bedroom, on trying to arrest the guy he stabbed her
in the stomach, i have called the emergency team and they are gonna be here any minute i suggest you do too as we have a new crime scene" she says
"We'll be right there just keep yourselves safe" Veron orders

Veron enters the Bullpit and gathers all the agents together.

"We have a crisis our team is getting smaller, Kates been taken and now Ziva has been stabbed while making an arrest at Kate's apartment. Something is
happening and i want it stopped before we lose another agent to these bastards!" Veorn says
"Gas the truck McGee, Abby and Emma i need you two to work togehter to find me something, anything, a phone number a name, anything understood!" Gibbs says
"Yes boss" Abby says
"Yes Gibbs" Emma says
"Everyone else follow me" Gibbs says motioning to the director also
"Why me Jethro?" the director asks
"Because we are two agents down and we need all the help we can get!" he says

CHAPTER 12: Let me go

Kate awakens she can no longer see the light coming through the small window in the room and knows that it must be late evening. She wondered how long
she had been in this room as she did not have her cell or watch on as she took that off to go non the date with Tony. Tony she thought, she couldn't believe
how well the evening was going before her mind goes blank and all she can see is white where the rest of the date should be. She manages to roll over to
her left side to check out her surroundings.

She can see a small pipe coming into the room unconnected and assumes that this must be used to supply oxygen to the room and that it leads to the outside,
to safety, to Tony, to freedom.

"Hello?" she called

She closed her eyes as her head pounded, she moved around riolently on the bed to try to loosen the chains around her wrists and anckles but that made her
head hurt even more. Defeated she stopped moving and tried to make herself as comfortable as possible but the pain inher head was so intense she found
it hard to concentrate on anything it just throbbed and throbbed until she finally drifted into unconciousness.

"Tony?" Abby called "Come here quick i've got something"

Tony leaped off of abby's office chair and ran to here Abby was using the computer.

"What is it? have you found her?" Tony asked excited
"I think so" Abby says
"Where?" Tony asked
"Well i tracked down the white van that Smith had seen drive off where Ziva was stabbed and found video footage that led it to a warehouse in Norfolk"she said
"Lets go!" he said
"ll call Gibbs and let him know ur gassin the truck" abby said
"Great work Abs!" Tony says and kisses her on the cheek
"Just bring back our Kate!" abbys says
"I will" Tony says running to the elevator

Abby picks up the phone and calls Gibbs

"Yeah Abs you got something?" Gibbs says
"Ok we are on our way!" Gibbs says

Gibbs slammes down his cell places it in his pocket and grabs his sig out of the drawer.

"Abby thinks she found Kate" Gibbs announces to the team
"Where?" Veron asks
"Norfolk, she is sending me the GPS co-ordinates as we speak!" Gibbs says
"Lets go!" Veron signals to the director

The team get to the warehouse parking around the back in a concealed area to make their presence unknown, they can't afford for anything to happen to Kate.
Tony, Gibbs and McGee go around the left side of the building while Veron, Smith and the Director take the right side of the building. Gibbs and Tony open
the first door while McGee tails them checking that they are not going to be closed in from the rear when they enter the building. Gibbs is the first
through the door clearing the room and signalling to Tony that it is clear to enter. He does so and tells McGee to watch his back and McGee agrees.

On the other side of the building they are using the same setup as the other team, Veron enters the building and the Director follows with Smith at the rear
they are not so lucky though as they enter the second room shots fire out and they take cover, Veron fires a couple of rounds at the large guy standing by
the door and hits him knocking him to the ground, the director sees another aiming for Veron and double taps him in the forehead.

Tony hears the sound of gunfire and takes off ahead of Gibbs towards the sound. Gibbs turns to see Tony running through the door and quicky follows after
him.

"Damn it DoNozzo!" he says under his breath

McGee takes cover and is careful to follow after the others making sure he has made sure that they are not going to be attacked from behind should they
go to far into the building.

Meanwhile the Director and Veron have finally managed to get the last man, there were three in total to stop firing by both stopping his heart with 2
perfect shots to the chest. Smith comes in the room to clear it as Veron and the Director hold their positions, they sueenly see Tony running into
the corridor gun raised and breathing like had had just run a marathon.

"What the hell DiNozzo!" Gibbs finally says cathing up with him
"I heard gunshots i thought Kate was in danger!" Tony says
"This is why rule 12 was started" Gibbs says "It gets in the way of you doing your job" he says smacking Tony in the head
"Thanks boss" Tony says

The teams decide to split up to search the last room in the warehouse, Gibbs and Veron enter first clearing the small part of the room they can see, it is
dark and the flashlights they have on them are difficult to use in such a large room as this. They signal for the rest of them to enter and search every
barrel, cupboard and crevace, nothing.

"Hey boss i've got something!" Smith says to Veron
"What is it?" Veron asks
"I think it is a secret floor underneath" She says
"Good work Smith!" Veron says

They all crowd around the hatch as Gibbs bends down looking at the lock which is keeping them from unlocking the trap door.

"There is some sort of ventillation system here boss!" Tony says from the other end of the room
"Lets get this open!" Gibbs barks
"Rule number 9!" Gibbs says
"Never go anywhere without your knife" McGee says checking the room

They manage to get the hatch open thanks to Gibbs' knife and Veron's foot going through the hatch when the lock wouldn't open. They quickly and carfully
pull open the rest of the hatch so that they can see into it. It looks like a very small room with just a window and they can see something in the corner
that look like a bed of some sort. Tony looks in to the hole in the floor and notices that there is a body lying on the bed wearing a red dress, Kate's
red dress!

"Kate!" he shouts jumping into the hole before either of the other agents can stop him. He runs up to the body and slowly leans over to it. He runs his
fingers through her hair.

"Kate its ok we've got you!" he says calmly
"Kate are you ok?" Tony asks

He turns her over and jumps back in horror, its not Kate but another woman with the same hair colour and is dressed in Kate's dress. She has had her throat
cut from ear to ear and she is wearing Kate's cross that she never takes off, even when she was with DiNozzo. Her eyes are clouded over and she has a
horrid expression on her face that shows that this was brutal and quick, she did not see this coming.

"Boss whe have a problem!" tony says
"Is Kate ok?" Gibbs asks worried

"Its not Kate!" Tony says falling to the floor staring at the helpless victim staring back at him.

CHAPTER 13: Even the best fall down

"Call Ducky!" Tony shouts to gibbs

The rest of them all file though the hatch to see the body with its ghastly expression facing towards them.

"Tony come away, it'll be ok we will find Kate" Smith says
"What, when she ends up like this!" Tony says angrily
"Pull yourself together!" smith shouts "Kate needs you to be strong for her" she says trying to get through to Tony.
"Your right!" he says "Lets go find her!" he says with determination evident in his eyes

Smith and Tony stand up and head for the hatch opening, Smith signals to Gibbs and he walks over to the both of them.

"Gibbs i'm taking Tony home, he needs some rest, he is no good to us here in the state he is in" Smith says
"Good idea Agent Smith" Gibbs says turning to Tony "We WILL find that bastard that has Kate, you understand me?" he asks
"I know boss" Tony says and heads towards the hatch

They dissapear through the hole in the ceiling and the rest of the team gets back to work. McGee and the Director are bagging and tagging, Veron is taking
pictures and sketches, Ducky is looking over the body. He walks up to ducky and sees how much the body looks like Kate, it churns his stomach, the last
time he remembers feeling like this was when he had heard the news about Shannon and Kelly, he tried to erase that picture from his mind everyday but it was
no use they were gone and for a moment he had thought Kate had gone.

"What have we got here duck?" Gibbs asks getting back to work
"Jethro be really do have a scare he don't we?" Ducky says solumly
"We sure do Duck" Gibbs responds
"Cause of death?" Gibbs asks
"From the size and deepness of the cut i would have to say that this was the cause of death" Ducky says pointing to the large gash accross the victim's
throat"
"What about time? Gibbs asks
"Well based on the liver temp and the slight early signs of rigor mortis i would estimate between 2000 and 2100" Ducky says
"Thanks duck" Gibbs says

The rest of the team finish their jobs and head back to NCIS building, Abby is busy in her lab, so is Emma and they don't seem to be getting on very well.

"I have managed to find the white van again, it headed towards the bethesda naval hospital about an hour ago" Emma said
"Thats nice, what took you so long?" Abby said coldly not looking at her
"Because of the timeframe and the guess work i had to do to try to find the direction in which the van was going, it was a little longer the i would have
liked" Emma reponded
"Well it didn't take you long to get your claws into McGee now did it!" Abby turned towards Emma and gave her the Abby version of a Gibbs stare
"Whats wrong you jealous?" Emma retorted
"No, me and McGee are just work colleagues, thats all" Abby says turning back towards he computer
"Thats not the impression i got" Emma said
"What gives you the right to come in here and tell me what i feel!" Abby coldly says
"your afraid" Emma said
"of what?" Abby asked back
"commitment" Emma said smugly
"Am not!" Abby snapped
"You so are, i see they way you are together and you think no one notices, that little giggle you do when he says something that really isn't funny and the
look you give him when he walks into the room alone" Emma says
"Ok, Ok you're right!" Abby gives in
"I knew it!" Emma said

McGee walks out of the elevator and Emma spots him and holds her hand up to tell him to wait, he stands outside the lab and waits to be let in, he knows that
Abby and Emma have not got on since she first showed up in the lab that day when him and Abby were, he turns a bright shade of crimson just thinking about it.

"Look don't tell him this but i really like him, he is funny cute and he's got that baby duck type thing gong on" Abby says finally able to let it out
"Really?" McGee says standing by the doors, abby turns around her face has a shocked looking expression and turning red.

Agent Smith drove to the hospital that night to see how Ziva was doing, no-one else was able to make it as they were still running leads and trying to get
Kate back but in the short amount to time they had worked together they had become instantly friends.

"I'm here to see Ziva David" Smith said
"One moment please" The rather large lady at the desk said "Room 169 on floor 6"
"Thank you"Smith said and headed into the elevator

She pressed the button for floor six and waited, the elevator stopped twice on the way there, the first was on floor 1 when and elderly gentleman stepped in
with a walking stick dressed in a hospital gown and dressing gown over the top. The secong was on floor 4 when the elderly gentleman stepped off the elevator
and heading towards the cafeteria.

The elevator finally made a stop on the 6th floor and she stepped out, managing to avoing the rather large pool of urine that had been deposited on the floor
by a three year old with a bladder problem. She turned down a hallway tot he right where the wall plaque read:

Level 6
Private Wing
Rooms 160 - 169

She cam to the end of the hall where she saw two rooms labelled 168 and 169 and peered into the room using the window to the left of the door, she opened the
door and saw Ziva sitting on the bed reading some kind of magazine in arabic.

"Hey Ziva, how are you?" Smith asked
"I'm good thanks Vicky" Ziva replied smiling "What you reading?"
"GQ but it is the arabic edition" Ziva said
"I was wondering what that was" Smith said "So when are they going to let you out?"
"They said a couple of days but i am going to try to get out of here by tomorrow at the latest!" Ziva said trying to ignore the pain in her stomach everytime
she moved or ate or showered or walked, the list was endless.
"How about i get you out of here tonight?" Smith said
"Could you?" Ziav asked
"Yeah sure, ill just go talk to someone, you get changed i'll be back in a few minutes" Smith said and walked out of the room.

Ziva quickly grabbed her clothes and dressed, she put some of the few things she had to call possesions in her bag and waits for Smith to come back. A few
minutes later Smith comes back into the room.

"Lets go!" Smith says
"Definately" Ziva says trying to hide the pain increasing in her stomach.

Smith drove Ziva back to her house, it was a lovelly rented two bedroomed house in the middle of a quite street, it hadn't cost her much as NCIS Director
covered most of her bills while she was working with them and ensured she never went without anything. Gibbs at first disputed it but after what happened
In his basement with her killing her half brother that night he felt that it was the leat NCIS could do in the circumstances.

"This is such a lovelly home" Smith commented looking at the expensive furniture that ensured she was living in luxury
"Yes it is but it is not MY home" Ziva said walking into the kitchen and putting on the kettle.

"Would you like a drink?" Ziva asks
"I would love one you got anything stronger than tes?" Smith asks
"I sure do!" Ziva says smiling and opens a bottle of Vodka and takes out two shot glasses

Ziva and Vicky settle in to the living room and begin to talk about everything, their lives, loves, family, their bosses, working for NCIS and friends.
They finaly fall asleep just as the sun begins to rise to start new day.

Chapter 14: Broken

Tony turned on the stereo, he always did this when he was feeling down. The cd was still the one he played when Kate was here, Broken by Sether ft Amy lee
came on and he leaned back in his settee and closed his eyes he remembered all the times he shared with Kate, good and bad but still they were with Kate and
he liked that.

I wanted you to know
That I love the way you laugh
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain away

I remember when she laughed so hard knowing that i had tounged that guy, i hated it but she rubbed it in my face, i couldn't believe what i had done but
hearing her laugh was the best sound ever, she scrunches her nose up when she laughs and he face lights up like sunshine.

I keep your photograph
And I know it serves me well
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain

She had given it to me when she left to go into hiding from Ari, she had told me that she would be back to collect it as she didn't want a picture of
her to get out everywhere if she was going to still be able to get it off him. He kept it in his wallet so she could be everywhere with him, he never
told her that of course but he couldn't stop thinking about her and how she made him feel, he was a schoolboy when he was with her but he never knew
how to let her know how he felt as it may wreck the friendship they had if she didn't feel the same about him.

cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome
And I don't feel right when you're gone away

She should be here i can't do this on my own, without her i'm not whole she keeps me in line and tells me when i am doin gsomething wrong and when i have
said something that has upset someone and she definately lets me know when he is being unfair to the opposite sex.

You've gone away
You don't feel me here....anymore

Where the hell is she! we need to find her she could eb dead or dying or in serious pain and here u am sitting on my a** doing nothing! but it is like 4am
and i am so tired i wouldn't be much help anyway, i have already thought that i have lost Kate and endangered myself and the rest of the team by storming
in to that building and finding that body there, i am so glad that it wasn't Kate i don't know what i would have done if it was her?

The worst is over now
And we can breathe again
I wanna hold you high, you steal my pain away

She took good care of me after i came back to work after the Y pestis as she felt it was her fault for letting me open the letter in the first place

I remember when she stayed with me when i had Y Pestis even though she knew she could get infected, she looked genuinely scared when i was getting worse
and if it wasn't for Gibbs coming in and telling me that i wasn't dieing i would have told her then how i had felt about her.

There's so much left to learn
And no one left to fight
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain

I was so glad when Gibbs had said that Ari had been killed, it meant that Kate could come home and we could be together, the time apart had made my
feelings for her stronger than ever, and i promised myself that i would tell her how i felt and hopefully she would do the same and we could live
happily ever after and that she will never have to feel afraid again.

cause I'm broken when I'm open
And I don't feel like I am strong enough
cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome
And I don't feel right when you're gone away

She took good care of me after i came back to work after the Y pestis as she felt it was her fault for letting me open the letter in the first place that
she offered to stay at my appartment while i fully recovered but i had to turn her down as i knew that the feelings i had for her were too strong for her
not to notice being around me everyday, looking after me, feeding me and sitting with me attending to my needs.


cause I'm broken when I'm open
And I don't feel like I am strong enough
cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome
And I don't feel right when you're gone away

I need her back, to know that she is safe and that we will be able to live our lives together as one when she returns, and for me to tell how much i love
her and that i will keep her safe, that i have wanted her to be the mother of my children for so long now it is unreal. She is everything i have ever
wanted in a woman, dating wasn't the safe after i had found out about the possibility that she felt the same for me as i did her.


cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome
And I don't feel right when you're gone ...away

Tony slowly sinked further and further in his settee as he listened to the words intensly and thinking about the day when he and Kate could be together
again.

You're gone away
You don't feel me here....anymore

He slowly drifted off into a restless sleep.

CHAPTER 15: THE CALL

Its around 3am and Tony is fast asleep on his settee, his stereo had been playing the same song for over an hour and the fire that was burning brightly
has now died and is only barely a warm glow. after a few minutes his cell begins to ring, he slowly wakes up grabbing his cell off of the coffee table
and looking at the caller display, it says unknown number, could be gibbs as he always seems to have a new number everytime one of his wives try to call
him.

"DiNozzo?" He says sleepily
"To...., it... e...!" He hears faintly, the static is really bad
"Who is this?" Tony asks squinting to see the time on the clock
"It.. m... To..., K..te" The caller says
"Kate! are you ok?" Tony asks jumping from his seat and standing in the middle of the room
"I ...pain.....escaped.....help!" She says
"Where are you?" Tony asks
"I...nt...now....trees.....road....house..." she says
"Stay where you are i am coming to get you!" Tony says grabbing his keys and heading for the door
"hurry....the.....come....ahhhhh!!" she said as one of the men grabbed her and put her in the white van
"Kate!" Tony said
"kate's dead!" The voice on the other end of the phone said and then the line went dead

Tony drove as fast as he could to Gibbs' house and knocked on the door, he waited for a few seconds and then knocked again, harder, still no answer so
he tried the door handle and it opened. Once inside he called out several times for Gibbs.

"Gibbs you here?" Tony said "Its me DiNozzo!"

He heard nothing, so he made his way to Gibb's basement where he assumed Gibbs would be building his boat. He reached the top of the stairs and looked down into the basement
he saw Gibbs lying down in ther middle of the boat asleep.

"Boss!" Tony shouted "Its me DiNozzo!"

Gibbs wakes up and sits up wondering where the voice came from and hits his head on the wood. Tony realises that Gibbs is gonna be really pissed at him for
doing that but he was more concerned about Kate.

"DiNozzo what the hell are you going here!" Gibbs asks angrily and holding his head
"I had a call from Kate, she is in trouble i think i know where she is! Tony said as gibbs looks at him rubbing his head
"Lets go to NCIS then!" Gibbs says and Tony offers to drive
"No i'll drive you want to be there as soon as possible, call everybody and tell them to get their asses down there!" He says

Gibbs and Tony arrive at the NCIS building and head towards the bullpit, they see McGee, Victoria, Ziva and Veron waiting at gibbs' desk.

"You should be in the hospital Ziva" Gibbs says walking to his desk
"I'd be of more use here boss" she says
"Fine but once your finished here you go straight back there, understood!" Gibbs says looking at the sheet of paper that has been put on his desk
"Whats this?" Gibbs asks looking at the paper
"Its a list of possible suspects that link to the capture of Kate based on phone records placed to Tony's home and cell numbers" Veron says
"Ziva, Smith i want you to check out the first two and Tony and McGee take the other two, me and Veron will be trying to find some backup" Gibbs says
"Yes boss" They all say

Gibbs and Veron head to MTAC while the other agents grab their sigs and head to check out the suspects. Meanwhile, Abby and Emma are in the lab running
evidence through various tests to try to find some information about where Kate could be being held and also the person or people that could have taken
her.

"I've got nothing on the broken glas in Tony's appartment" Emma says
"I think i have something on the window sill from Kates appartment" Abby says
"what is it?" Emma asks
"It seems like some kind of fine white powder" Abby says
"Let me see" Emma says and Abby moves aside from the microscope
"What do you think it is?" Abby asks
"I'm not sure, it seems to look like a type of explosive powder used in household bombs" Emma says
"But there was no signs of any other material in Kate's appartment that could be used to make a bomb" Abby said
"I still think we should get bomb squad to go there to check the place out" Emma says
"I'll cal Gibbs and let him know" Abby says dialing Gibbs' cell number and placing it on speaker phone
"Gibbs" He answers
"Gibbs it me" abby says
"What is it Abs?" he asks
"We have identified the white powder from Kate's flat to be a type of explosive powder and think that someone should check the place out" she says
"Good work Abs we will send someone over there now" Gibbs says putting down the phone
"Is he always that abrupt?" Emma asks
"Only when he is awake!" Abby says smiling

They continue to test evidence untill they both stop dead in their tracks and turn to look at each other, they can tell that something is wrong but they
don't know what.

"Can you hear that?" Emma says
"Yeah, what is it?" Abby says

They both walk to the other end of the lab where the plasma screen takes pride of place carefully stepping to make sure they don't cover the noise,
they reach the plasma screen adnnotice a small plastic container on a shelf to the left of the screen, Emma walks towards it and hears the noise getting
louder and louder untill it gets so loud she realises what it is.

"Its a bomb!" Emma screams "Run now Abby!"

Abby heads for the door and manages to turn the corner outiide the lab before it explodes in a huge bang. Flames and smoke billow out of the lab and the
smell of ammonia quickly engulfs the air.

"Emma!" Abby screams pressing the emergency button outside the lab to indicate a biohazzard

Abby turns around back to the lab but sees nothing but smoke, no sign of Emma and no sign of life. She suddenly is over come by fumes and struggles to
keep sight of anything, suddenly a hand covered in a tissue surrounds her mouth and weak from the explosion she struggles to avade her attacker, she
stumbles to the ground losing fight but still not giving up. Suddenly her movements are slow and sluggish as the fumes become too much for her and she
slowly closes her eyes and loses consiousness.

CHAPTER 16: UNFAIR TRADE

Gibbs and Veron were on the way to a suspect's house when Gibbs' phone rang, he continued driving at an unbelieveable speed as he answered.

"Gibbs" He said
"I'm sorry to say this Jethro" Jenny said
"Then don't" Gibbs barked
"There has been an explosion t the lab" Jenny said

Gibbs slammed on the breaks having heard jenny's words which made Veron slam his hands on the dash board to stop him from hitting his head.

"Abby?" Gibbs asked
"We have been unable to find her body at the moment, all we know is that Abby and Emma were in the lab at the time of the explosion!" Jenny said sadly
"And emma?" Gibbs asks
"They found her unconcious in the lab just feet away from where the explsion has been identified as being the epicentre of the blast!" Jenny informed him
"Where is she now?" Gibbs asked
"Being taken to Bethesda as we speak" Jenny says

Gibbs throws the phone onto the back seat, and makes a u turn in the middle of a dual carridgeway crossing in front of a line of traffic coming in the
opposite direction and sped of on route to Bethesda.

"What is it Gibbs?" Veron asks
"An explosioninthe lab, Abby's missing and Emma has been badly hurt" Gibbs says
"Can you drive any faster?" Veron asks, no one has ever said that to Gibbs before in fact they say the opposite
"Oh yeah!" Gibbs says smiling and puts his foot to the floor

They arrive at the hospital in less than 5 minutes, it would have been a 10 minute drive if it were anyone else and driving at the speed limit. They
abandon the car in any space they could find, in this case an abulance parking space and enter the building.

"You are going to have to move your car sir" A sweet talking nurse says from behind the reception desk of the A&E
"I'm looking for Agent Emma Harvey, she was brought in here a few minutes ago" Veron butts in not taking any notice of what the woman had just said
"I'm afraid you will have to move the car first sir" she says again sweetly
"How about you tell us where agent Harvey is or i will be parking it up you a**" Gibbs says unamused
"There is no need to shout sir!" she raises her voice slightly
"Just tell us where agent Harvey is or i will let him off his leash" Veron says refering to Gibbs who looked the same as he did when he didn't know
Ari's name
"Boss!" Smith says walking down the corridor to meet them
"Smith, where is Emma?" Veron asks
"She is in ICU, its not looking good" she says solumly "ill take you to her"
"You still have to move the car sir!" the woman said with a hint of anger becoming apparent in her voice
"I know why don't you move it!" Gibbs says throwing the keys at her and following Veron and Smith down the corridor

They reach Emmas room and walk through the door, they can see several machines doing their job of keeping her alive and stable, the various machines make
noises every now and again the heart monitor bleeps every now and again to signal life and the ventilator pumps air into her weak lungs. She looks like
a mummy with her whole body from neck to toe in bandages and has several large patches on her face where the blast has taken its toll on her. There is
scaring where the casing the bomb was in had hit her face and shards of glass have been removed to reveal large cuts to her nose, cheeks and forhead.

"How is she doing?" Veron asks the nurse who is currently attending to one of the machines that are connected to Emma
"She is very lucky, i am amazed how she survived the blast, but unfortunately she has some pretty serious injuries" the nurse said
"Is she responsive?" he asks
"A little but we are not expecting much at this point she is in need of a serious amout of care and attention" the nurse informed him
"Could you guys give us some time alone?" Veron asked the nurse, Gibbs and Smith
"Yes sure i was just finished" the nurse said as Gibbs and Smith nodded and left the room with the nurse

Veron pulled the chair up to the bed where Emma lay and sat there for a minute looking at Emma and what a mess she was in. He held out his hand and
placed his on top of hers, she sat their lifeless not even twitching when he touched her, his head dropped for a second, suddenly he thought he heard
something, looking up he realised that Emma was trying to open her eyes but was in real pain, her eyelids were filckering and she was making a low
moaning sound as if she was trying to talk but couldn't.

"What is it?" Veron asked her
"I'm......sorry......boss" she said quietly between breaths

She closed her eyes again and the machines started to bleep like crazy as nurses came in and surrounded her, Veron stepped back and walked out of the
room towards Gibbs and Smith, he had a shocked expression, one Smith had never seen on her boss before, it soon turned into anger and determination.

"As of now it stops!" he said "We catch this B*****D! dead or alive"

Back at NCIS the team is shocked to find out about the lab bombing and realise that no where is safe, they increase the security on the building but
they know that it is too late, the damage has been done and they have lost both of their forensic scientists and so doing lab work is going to be
difficult as they don't even have lab.

"I have called in the FBI to help with the investigation as they have a lab that we can use and they also have some agents they can led us to try
to track down both Agent Todd and Miss Scuito" Jenny informs them
"when will they get here?" Veron asks
"Just in time i see" Fornell remarks with perfect timing
"Tobias, just remeber this is our case" Gibbs says
"you will do everything by our rules" Veron says
"How sweet you have him finishing your sentsnces for you" Fornell smirks
"There isn't time for this!" Gibbs snaps angrily
"Your right we have to begin immediately" Fornell says turning serious
"Who are your agents?" Gibbs asks
"Agents Kaite Minion and Amy Best" Fornell announces

Tony instantly raises his head and realises who is standing in front of him it is the woman who he had a truly horrible date with just before he got
with Kate, he knows that she recognises him and she instantly walks up to Tony and holds out her hand ready to shake his.

"Well if it isn't Anthony DiNozzo" She says poshly
"Amy, nice to see you again" He lied putting on a fake smile
"Care to explain DiNozzo?" Gibbs asks
"No boss, its nothing" Tony says uncomfortably
"Thats right, it was nothing" Best says
"Good, now can we get back to work?" Gibbs asks
"Yes boss" Tony says

Gibbs turns back towards the team looking rather disorientated and looking just about ready to crack. He takes a deep breath.

"Blowing up the lab means they are after our people, women first" Gibbs says to everyone
"We need to be on alert for any strange movements from suspects or any personnel entering or exiting the building" Veron adds
"We are goin gto have to split up into groups Tony, Smith i need you to process the Lab" Gibbs says
"Yes boss" They both say
"McGee, Best i need you to go pick up Navy engineer Andrew Segal, bring him in for interrogation" Gibbs says
"Yes boss" they both say
"Minion, Ziva i need you to search records and find any link between this Andrew Segal and any other kind of crime" Veron says
"Yes boss" they both say
"Gibbs, Fornell and I will go to the FBI lab and see what we are dealing with here" Veron says
"Don't stand around! get to work!" They all scurry around attending to the jobs they have been assigned

Tony and Smith head towards the elevator and as the doors open they see Kate collapsed on the floor of the elevator all cut up and bloody.

"Kate!" Tony says running to her side

Gibbs, Veron and Fonell hear Tony shouting and run over to the elevator, they don't believe their eyes as they see Kate slumped in a pile on the floor
not moving and looking rather unwell.

"Tony! take the stairs to the lab!" Gibbs orders
"But she is hurt" Tony says upset
"Right now Abby is depending on you to find her and Emma is holding onto life in the hospital, Kate is safe now" Gibbs says bending to look tony in
the eye
"Ok boss" Tony says not wanting to leave Kate but he is glad she is now safe
"Go, now!" Gibbs hurries them
"Kate its Gibbs your safe now" He says holding her in his arms

CHAPTER 17: WRITTEN IN BLOOD

Tony and Smith exit the elevator minuvering around the various items on the floor, broken glass, papers, melted evidence bags and the burned out shell of
a computer.

"All the evidence has been destroyed for a reason!" Tony says
"I know, let just get this over with" Smith says seeing where her colleague and friend had been at the time of the explosion

Tony makes his way into the middle of the lab avoiding the mess that is now the left over of the lab, he sees something on the floor, it
looks like blood and he begins to photograph it when he suddenly realises what it is.

"Vicky come look over here!" Tony says
"What is it Tony?" Smith asks as she makes her way towards Tony
"It looks like writing in blood" Tony says looking at the strange marks on the floor
"Oh my god!" Smith says bending down to read the writing on the floor
"1 no hu tuk Ab, What is that? is she dislexic or something?" Tony asks
"No dingbat, it says I know who took Abby" Smith says
"I knew that" Tony says smiling

They continue to proces the scene untill Vicky recieves a phone call from the hospital.

"Agent Smith" She answers
"Yes" She says
"ok i'l be right there!" She says closing her cell and slowly placing it in her trouser pocket

Tony hears the conversation and trying not to look like he is listening he slowly begins to walk towards Vicky to hear what she is saying and stands
on what is left of Bert, his fur and face are badly burned and it is difficult to relise what it is until Tony hears the fart noise coming from him.
His fart noise is now a slow deep groan sound but it it definately Bert.

"Ew Tony!" Smith says
"It wasn't me it was Bert" Tony says defensively
"Whatever!" Smith says back not caring about where the noise came from
"Whats wrong?" Tony asks
"Emma has taken a turn for the worst they don't think she will make it through the night" Smith says sounding upset
"I'm so sorry Vicky" Tony says reaching her and pulling her into a hug
"I just wanna finish this and go see her ok?" She says pulling out of the hug immediately and getting back to work
"Its ok i'll get McGee to finish up with me" Tony says
"I can do it Tony!" She shouts and picks up an evidence bag that has not been burned or ruined by the explosion "Can we make a re-enactment of the
explosion?"
"Sure, Abby is great with that" Tony says realising what he said he turns around, grabs his cell out of his pocket and calls McGee

"McGee, can you get us a re-enactment done for the explosion?" Tony asks
"Yeah sure" He says somberly
"I'm sorry Probie, we will get her back" Tony says sorrowful
"I know" McGee says sighing
"Thanks probie, let me know when your done" Tony says and closes his cell

Gibbs and Veron are at the lab at the FBI building and are waiting for Tony and Smith to arrive as they said they have found something that may help
them with the case to get Abby back and also to try to help Emma stay alive.

"You're late" Gibbs barks
"We've got some bad news" Tony says looking at Veron
"Well what is it?" Veron asks impatiently
"Emma is not doing so good and may not make it through the night" Vicky says holding back tears
"Well we had better crack this case and get her better" Veron says trying to avoid the fact that he may lose a member of his team

"I have the re-enactment for you" McGee says

He begins the program and they all look in horror as they see the figure representing Emma being thrown accross the room and being slammed down
by the force of the explosion and realising that she is lucky just to be alive.

"I think i know why she didn't leave when Abby did" Vicky says holding the three perfect specimen evidence bags containing the items they had
collected from Kate's and Tony's Appartments and placing them on the table in front of them.
"Were did you get those?" Gibs asks
"I found them on the floor of the lab where Emma was found" Vicky says
"But how could they be still like that everything else was destroyed?" Veron asks
"Thats because she was trying to save some evidence, i think she may have known who took Kate" Vicky says
"We also have this" Tony says placing the several photographs on the table also
"Emma is trying to tell us who took Abby!" Vicky says

Back at the hospital Veron is sitting in a chair by the side of Emmas bed waiting for her to wake up, hoping she will wake up, and making sure
that if she does die he will personally hunt the bastard down and kill him before anyone could find out and stop him.

"Emma wake up!" Veron screams, nothing
"Harvey" He shouts again, but still nothing

He sits back in the chair and tries to think what he can do to get her to wake up, he needs to know who this bastard is and as she is the only
one who knows it is making it difficult to find him and he will most probably get away with it. Her does not let any get away with it! not even
the time of 7/7 attacks when they said it would be difficult to find those that planned and executed the attacks but he never gave up and with the
help of Scotland Yard managed to find over 20 people connected.

"Emma, you can't die, we need you, i need you" Veron says admitting it to himself
"Do you really need me?" Emma said sounding croaky
"Well you are the only one who knows who took Abby, What the hell were you thinking" Veron said angrily
"I'm so sorry boss" Emma said before drifing back to sleep

Veron watched her close her eyes and quietly stepped out of the room and closed the door, he made his way to Kate's room where Gibbs was talking
to a now concious Kate, looking better than she did yesterday. She still has alot of cuts and bruises and will probably have to stay in the hospital
for a few days to make sure that nothing more serious arises but then she would be discharged and allowed to go home.

"How are you doing Agent Todd?" Veron asks walking into the room
"Much better thank you and please call me Kate" She says smiling
"Very well Kate its great to have you back" Veron says smiling
"Any news on Emma?" Gibbs asks
"No not yet she is sleeping at the moment but nothing more than that" Veron says taking a seat next to him
"What has happened?" Kate asks
"You haven't told her?" Veron asks
"Not yet she needed her rest and i didn't want to worry her" Gibbs says knowing that he is going to have to tell her now or Veron will
"Will somebody tell me what s going on!" Kate says worrying
"There was an explosion in the lab, Emma was still in the lab when it happened" Veron informed Kate
"And Abby?" Kate asks
"They have taken her" Gibbs says getting to his feet and pacing accross the room
"Oh no, do we know who took her?" Kate asks
"No, only Emma does and she still in a critical condition they she may not make it through the night" Veron added
"Oh god, poor Emma" Kate said tearing up

The sudden sound of bleeps, noises, hospital staff running around and panic stops them and they realise that it is coming from a room down from
where Kate's is.

"Emma!" Veron shouts running from the room
"Jason wait!" Gibbs shouts
"Gibbs!" Kate shouts and climbs out of bed, puts on a hospital night gown and makes her way towards the other two agents

"Whats happening?" Veorn asks
"I'm sorry sir unless you are family i cannot release any information about this patient" the nurse responds
"I'm her fiance" Veron says much to the surprise of Gibbs and Kate who are standing behind him
"Very well, she is stable for the moment but she will need alot of rest and will be here for a few weeks" The nurse said
"When can i go in and see her?" Veron asks
"In a few moments they are just getting her ready for her scan" The nurse said
"A scan? for what?" Veron asks
"Oh you must no know yet" The nurse says
"Know what?" Veron asks confused
"Your fiance is pregnant" The nurse said smiling

CHAPTER 18: THE AFFAIR

Veron has a look of shock on his face he cannot believe it, obviously the nurse didn't know that Veron is not her fiance but it is a real shock
to veron as he couldn't think who the father could be as she has not had a relationship with anyone for the last year or so or he would have
known about it. He did not know everything about his team members but he felt that he knew enough about them to know when they were in a
relationship or not and since Emma had broken off her affair with Army leutenant Craig Curzon has she had another relationship. She had been
heartbroken when she found out that he had a wife and children and had had trouble getting past it.

***FLASHBACK***

Emma and Craig are at her flat and they have been seeing each other for the past year or so, she has applied for a job at NCIS which Craig
dissapproves of as he believes women should stay at home, look after the children, look after the house and her husband. She has found out
from her best friend who works at NCIS Vicky Smith that he has been seen out with another woman who is claiming to be his wife.

"This has to stop!" Emma shouts
"You weren't saying that last night" Craig said smirking
"Thats before i found out you have a wife!" Emma said holding up a picture of him with his wife Emma De Carteret and their two children
"So what i have a wife?" Craig asks
"You're not even going to deny it?" Emma asks
"No, i am allowed to have a mistress" Craig says
"Is that all i am to you?" Emma asks tears falling down her face
"Yes that is all you ever were to me and thats it!" Craig says
"Get out!" Emma screams
"Don't say that" Craig says
"Out!" Emma opens the door and points her hand to the empty space out side
"But i love you" Craig says
"Save that for your wife!" Emma says and turns to look away from him
"Leave me and i'll kill you" Craig says angrily
"I dare you" Emma says

***END OF FLASHBACK***

Veron walks into the room and sees the nurse doing an ultrasound and the nurse look at Veron smiling.

"Would you like to see the baby?" The nurse asks
"Yeah sure" Veron says sounding tired
"I'm so sorry i didn't tell you" Emma said
"We will talk about it later" Veron said smiling and looking at the monitor
"Congratulations" The nurse said and handed Veron a picture of the tiny baby
"Thank you" Emma said defeated

The nurse packed up the machines and hurried out of the room, she quietly closed the door and watched through the window as Veron took a seat
near the bed and sat down.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me about this?" Veron asked
"I didn't know honest" Emma said sounding like a little school girl
"What the hell happened?" Veron asked
"I'll tell you if you promise not to do anything stupid" Emma said
"I never do anything stupid i just get even" Veron said
"Just don't flip out" Emma said
"Just tell me already" Veron said

***FLASHBACK***

"I'm so glad you called" Craig says
"I don't know what i am doing!" Emma said
"You are doing the right thing" Craig said
"What did you want to speak to me so urgently about?" Emma asks
"I have divorced my wife so i can be with you" Craig said
"Really?" Emma asks happily
"Yes i can't be without you" Craig says walking up to Emma and kissing her
"My place is just round the corner do you wanna have coffee?" Emma asks
"No i have a better idea why don't you come back to mine" Craig offers
"Sure" Emma says and gets into his car

They arrive at Craig's place and open the door, they barely has time to step in the front door before they start taking each others clothes off
they manage to make it to the couch as they begin to fall deeper and deeper for each other, when the phone rings.

"Don't you need to get that?" Emma asks between breaths
"No i will just let the machine get it" Craig says his hands all over her

The phone rings several times until the answer machine kicks in.

"You have reached the Curzon house please leave a message" The machine says
"Hey honey its me, the kids aren't feeling too well so we are gonna come back home, we will be back by 3" Craig's Wife says

"Divorced her huh?" Emma says getting off the couch and begins to dress herself
"Yeah she has just taken the kids out for the day" Craig says
"Oh cut the BS" Emma says grabbing her shoes and forcing them on her feet
"Don't you walk on me!" Craig shouts getting angry
"Just watch me!" Emma says grabbing her bag and walking towards the door

Craig jumps off the couch and runs to the door blocking it and forcing Emma to try to get past him without any luck. He then grabs her by the
arms and looking extremely angry.

"Don't you ever try o walk out on me!" He says
"Screw you! get your hands off me!" Emma screams trying to get out of his iron grip
"How dare you talk to me like that!" Craig says
"Just let me go" Emma says tears streaming down her face
"Never, you are mine" Craig says trowing Emma to the floor
"No please no!" Emma begs

Craig climbs on top of her holding her arms to the floor and rapes her.

***END OF FLASHBACK***

"Why the hell didn't you tell me!" Veron asks
"I just wanted it to go away" Emma says crying
"That bastard! i'm gonna kill him!" Veron says
"That is exactly why i didn't want to tell you" Emma says
"But he raped you!" Veron says
"I know, i haven't told anyone about it until now" emma says
"When did this happen?" Veron asks
"About 4 weeks ago" Emma said
"That afternoon when you had called in sick, that was the real reason" Veron asked
"Yes, i was too ashamed and scared to leave the house" Emma said
"The nurse said that the reason you were not getting better is that you were pregnant and the high blood pressure was having an effect on the
baby which caused you to keep losing conciouness" Veron informed her
"How did you know i was pregnant anyway?" Emma asked
"I pretended i was your fiance" Veron said
"You did what?" Ema asked shocked
"Well i really wanted to know how you were and they wouldn't tell me unless i was family and since i can't pass of as your brother i decided
to do a bit of undercover work" Veron said
"I wondered why they looked at me funny when i said you were the best boss i had ever had" Emma said smiling at last
"You and baby need the rest, i'll be back tomorrow to check on you both" Veron said
"Boss, could you not tell any one about this, i would like to tell Vicky and the others myself" Emma asked
"Sure, just get better soon" Veron says and closes the door

Emma closed her eyes wondering what the furture would be like with a baby, his baby, she hated him for doing this to her but at the same time
she was glad to be free of him. She did not hear the door opening and then closing again, she didn't know there was anyone else in the room
with her untill the visitor began to talk.

"Hello Emma" Craig said

CHAPTER 19: PICTURE PERFECT

Abby awakens to find herself in a completely unknown place in the same room as a total stranger. She can smell the faint scent of paint and urine
she figures the smell is coming from the strange man as he looks like a guy off of one of those Jean Paul Gautier adverts, that bald sailor who is
always interested in the men rather than the women.

"Ah welcome back Miss Scuito!" The stranger says
"Who the hell are you?" Abby asks
"Thats for me to know and your idiot colleagues or yours to find out" He says
"Is that because you don't know it?" Abby asks sarcastically

The man walks up to Abby and slaps her, he was not happy with that comeback. He walks to the corner of the room where there is a small
table with things on it, she can see her dog collar, studded bracelets and her combat boots. He walks back to Abby and holds a picture in
her face. It is a picture of her and Emma in the lab working, from an angle that can only have taken by someone inside the lab, near the
plasma screen to be precise.

"You don't remember me do you?" He asks smiling
"How could you have taken that picture?" Abby asks
"Just as easily as it was to take Agent Todd!" The man says smiling
"What have you done with her you bastard?" Abby asked trying to break free from the chair she was tied to, her head began to throb
"Don't worry yourself she was dumped in your lift this afternoon" He said laughing
"You better have not hurt her!" Abby shouted
"It really all depends on what you mean by hurt?" He said
"Is she alright?" Abby asks
"She will be, but you won't if you don't shut up!" He said walking quickly towards her and grabbing her wrists
"Let me go" Abby screams

The man continues to squeeze her wrists as she tries to break free but she is in the same position Kate was in, chained by her wrists and ankles
and with her head throbbing intensively she has to stop before she passes out.

Ziva and Katie have been looking at files for the past five hours but still have not found anything

"There is nothing here" Ziva said throwing down the last of the files

The agent sitting opposite her looked up but did not respond, Ziva opened her eyes wide urging the agent to say something, anything
but the agent just looked back to what she was doing.

"Great" Ziva said sighing and sitting back in her chair

The elevator doors opened and out stepped Gibbs, Kate and Veron, they make their way to the bullpit and notice Ziva and the other agent
looking through hundreds of files.

"Officer David!" Gibbs barks
"Gibbs" Ziva says standing to her feet
"Any suspects?" Veron asks dropping a fruit slushie onto her desk
"Theres nothing here" Ziva says picking up the drink and taking a large sip
"Look harder!" Gibbs says and walks to his desk

Kate steps out from behind Ziva's desk and smiles at her.

"Who's the agent?" Kate asks
"Katie Minion, FBI" Ziva says
"Why are the FBI here?" Kate asks
"Trying to stick their noses in where they are not wanted" Ziva says

McGee makes his way to Emma's room and quitely enters, closing the door and finding a seat by her bed he sits down, he reaches out his hand
and holds Emma's in his. Emma opens her eyes and smiles.

"I thought i would come and see how you are doing" He says giving her a small grin
"Not too bad just feeling a little sick at the moment" Emma says
"I would have come sooner but i have been backed up at work" McGee says
"Thats ok i don't expect many visitors anyway" Emma says

McGee looks at emma and knows that something is not right, she looks different, worried, scared just not the woman he had met only a week or so ago

"Whats wrong?" McGee asks
"Nothing" Emma says looking away from him
"You can't get passed me that good" He says smiling
"I'm pregnant" Emma blurts out
"Congratulations" McGee says
"Yeah well its not needed" Emma says tearing up
"Why?" He asks
"I'm not ready for this" Emma says
"So you are not going to keep it?" McGee asks
"I'm not sure, i can't do this , not now" She says anger in her tone
"I'l go and let you have your rest" McGee says standing up to go
"Tim" she said
"Yeah" he said
"Please don't tell anyone" she asks
"You have my word" McGee says

CHAPTER 20: THE UNWANTED VISITOR

Emma lays sleeping, Veron is sleeping in the chair opposite her bed he has been there for over 3 hours now and is waiting for her to wake up, he needs
to find out if she can remember anything about the explosion or the fact that she knows who has kidnapped Abby and without her they may not be
able to find her in time before something serious happens.

Several times during the 3 hours Emma moved and screamed but she would still be sleeping, her eyelids twitched during one of the many nightmares
and at one point she reached out for something but then suddenly stopped and her arm fell to the bed. Veron awakens to see Emma looking at the
picture of the scan she hides it as soon as she realises that he is awake.

"Good morning boss" Emma says
"I need to talk to you" Veron says
"What is it? is something wrong?" Emma asks
"I need you to remember" Veron says seriously
"Remember what?" Emma asks
"The explosion" Veron says
"What explosion?" Emma asks
"In the lab" Veron says
"There was an explosion in the lab!?" Emma said trying to sit up
"Easy" Veron said "I have been putting it off for a while as the nurses didn't think you could handle the stress"
"What about Abby?" Emma asked
"She has been kidnapped" Veron says
"By the same people who have taken Kate?" Emma asked
"We think so, the good news is that we have got Kate back" Veron says
"How?" Emma asked
"We found her in the lift at NCIS" Veron says "I need you to try to remember what happened"

About 30 minutes later they are still trying to do everything so that Emma can remember what happened.

"Its just not happening" Emma said
"You need to try harder!" Veron says rubbing his forehead "I need coffee, ill be right back"

Veron exits the room and his cell phone rings he looks at the caller I.D. and sees that it is Smith.

"Yeah" he answers
"We got a lead" she says
"Who?" he asks
"Do you remember Craig?" she asks
"Yeah i remember that scumbag!" he says
"He tried to kill Emma the bomb was the same setup as the previous ones he has tried to do to both her house and car we are 100% it was him" she says
"Go get him!" Veron says
"Ziva and I are on the way there now" Smith says
"Call me when you have him in custody!" Veron says putting the phone down

He picks up the phone and calls Gibbs.

"Gibbs" he answers
"Gibbs we need 24 hour watch on Emma we have a feeling she is in danger" Veron says
"Ill send Kate and Tony over" Gibbs says putting the phone down

Ziva and Vicky are making their way to Craig's rented appartment just 10 minutes from the base when Vicky spots the white van that she saw speeding
away from Kate's appartment when they were when Ziva got stabbed.

"There" Vicky says and points
"Is that the van?" Ziva asks
"Yeah i think we should follow it see where it goes" Vicky says
"We need tpo go to Craigs house to question him" Ziva says
"That will have to wait, it might show us where Abby is" Vicky says
"We could both get fired for this! Ziva says truning the car around in the middle of the road
"I know but i have a feeling i can't ignore" Vicky says

They follow the van for about 20 minutes until they come to an abandoned warehouse in the middle of a forrest looking warehouse, a man and two women
stepped out of the van and made their way towards the building they all enter the building and return a few minutes later.

"We need to get a better look" Vicky says
"How about over there" Ziva says pointing to a small shed a few feet from the building
"Lets go" Vicky says

They both draw their weapons and head towards the shed diving behind trees and bushes so the the three people do not see them. They reach the shed and
kneel down on the floor making sure that they are not being watched, they stay there for a few minutes and watch the two women enter and exit the building.
They hear one of the women talking and signal to the man as they see Abby being taken into the back of the van. Suddenly one of the women look towards
the direction of Vicky and Ziva, they quickly throw themselves to the ground careful not to be seen.

"Oh my god!" Ziva says
"What, did they see us?" Vicky asks
"No, but i know who those women are" Ziva said
"Who?" Vicky asks
"Those are the FBI agents Best and Minion!" Ziva says
"We've gotta tell our bosses they have someone on the inside" Vicky says taking out her cellphone and calling Veron

Ziva takes out her cell and calls Gibbs and tells him what they have seen and that they will need to be more careful not due to the fact that they know everything
about the case. They head back towards the car and speed of to question Craig, it takes them 30 minutes due to their detour and finally arrive at the appartment
in enough time to stop him from leaving.

"Well if it isn't Vicky!" Craig says
"Thats agent Smith to you" Vicky says
"Mr Curzon we would like to have a little chat with you" Ziva says
"Thats a shame as i am just heading out, maybe another time?" He says heading towards his car as Vicky grabs him and throws him into the wall
"No now" Vicky says
"Fine, i don't even know what this is about!" Craig says
"Do you know an Emma Harvey?" Ziva asks
"Of course he does!" Vicky says looking at Ziva
"Vicky calm down i have to ask them" Ziva says "I repeat do you know Emma Harvey?"
"Yes that name rings a bell" he says smugly
"Where were you on the 9th between 1700 and 1900?" Ziva asks
"I was here all night with a friend" he says
"What friend?" Vicky asks
"Andrew Segal, i met him while serving in the gulf a few years back" Craig says
"Do you know where we can find this Andrew Segal?" Ziva asked
"No idea i do know that he lives somewhere in Richmond" Craig says
"Thank you for your time Mr Curzon, we will get back to you if we need anything else" Ziva says
"Emma has my number" He says smugly
"What did u say?" Vicky asks hm getting angry
"How is my mistress?" Craig asks
"She wasn't and never will be yours" Vicky says
"Not even now she is carrying my child?" Craig says smiling
"What are you talking about?" Vicky asks
"Oh don't you know, she didn't tell you?" he says knowing he has something over her
"That would never happen" Vicky says
"She just couldn't keep her hands off me" he says laughing
"Neither can i!" Vicky says punching Craig in the face and then heading towards the car
"She will come back to me" Craig says holding his nose
"Not if i have something to do with it" Vicky says as they drive off

CHAPTER 21: REVENGE IS SWEET

At the hospital Tony and Kate are sitting in Emmas room looking over her while she sleeps they are sitting in chairs next to each other and are holding
hands smiling at each other, they were happy for now and that was enough, Tony had his Kate back and Kate had her Tony. They were talking about
what happened that night and what would Gibbs say if he would have found out another way other than Kate being kidnapped in Tony appartment.

"You should have seen the look on his face when he knew that you had stayed over and not on the couch" Tony says
"I am betting he wasn't pleased" Kate says laughing
"I thought he was going to kill me" Tony says remembering the look on his boss' face
"We we are his girls me and Abby and he likes to be a father to us and keep us safe" Kate says knowing it was true
"I am so worried about Abby" Tony says
"So am I, but we will find her" Kate says looking at Tony
"You know u look so beautiful when you look at me like that" Tony says looking at Kate
"Like what?" Kate asks
"Like you love me" Tony says leaning in to kiss her

They slowly move towards each other and softly press their lips together, after a while their kiss gets heated and before they know it Tony is off of his chair and
making his way onto Kate's leaning over her and into the kiss. She places her hands onto Tony's face and pulls him in closer as he puts his hands on her
waist and around her back as she leans forward. He runs his hands up her shirt tracing her scars on her back and caressing them with his touch. She
moves her hands to his shirt and begins to undo his bottons and remove it by sliding it off of his shoulders and down his arms. He begins to kiss her neck
as she opens her eyes to see Craig standing at the side of Emmas bed, holding her hand and injecting her with something. She freezes and Tony
notices something is not right.

"Its him" Kate whispers to Tony
"Where?" Tony asks
"Behind you!" Kate says

Tony slowly grabs his gun from his holster and turns around allowing Kate to stand up and un holster hers.

"Federal agents get your hands in the air" Tony says

Craig begins to slowly lift his hands into the air when they are almost shoulder height he makes a quick run for it dropping the syringe. Tony and Kate chase after him he runs
through corridors and into several wards who are bustling with people that it makes it difficult for them to take a shot at him. Vicky is walking through
the ward on her way to relieve Kate and Tony of their shift when she hears a noise and sees Craig running towards her. Before she has time to un holster
her weapon he wraps his arm around her neck and puts a gun to her head and pulls her into a stairwell.

"Get your hand off me you creep" Vicky screams
"Shut up or i will kill you!" Craig says pushing the gun further into her temple
"Like Emma you mean" Vicky says
"She was never part of the plan but when she found out about who planted the bomb and who took Abby i had to find a way to get rid of her" he says locking the door to the
stairwell.

Kate and Tony are trying to kick in the door to try to get Craig and help Vicky but nothing is workignt he door won't budge, they have also asked for a janitor for them to open
the door but this is the one day where there are lack of janitors and a high batch of cleaning duties, Tony pulls out his cell and calls Gibbs.

"Gibbs we need help at the hospital, Craig was here and tried to kill Emma and he now has Vicky in the stairwell but he has locked the door" Tony says
"Hold on DiNozzo we will be right there" Gibbs says
"What is it?" Veron asks
"I'll tell you on the way" Gibbs says
"Keep them safe Tony" Gibbs says closing his cell

Kate has got so annoyed with the door not opening she has resorted to shoting the door to try to get it to open, it won't budge as the door is made of steel and will only leave an
indent but will not open.

"Kate stay here i will try to get into the stairwell from the floor above" Tony says running off to the elevator
"Be careful Tony" Kate says

Gibbs and Veron arrive at the Hospital and immiediately head to the elevator and press the button for floor 6 they are unnaware of the scene unvailing itself when they reach
the 6th floor. They immediately take our their weapons on the doors opening and head through the crowd of people to where they see kate trying to use a chair to break
open the door without any luck.

"Kate where's Tony?" Gibbs asks
"He went to try to get into the stair well from the next floor up" Kate says finally giving up
"So who is looking after Emma?" Veron asks
"Oh no, we forgot about that" Kate said
"For christ's sake" Veron said running to Emma's room

Tony manages to make it into the stairwell from the 7th floor as he slowly and quietly opens the doorand moves to get a better view of Craig, he can hear Craig talking to
Vicky and waits for his time to shoot him if he has to.

"You couldn't just leave her alone could you" Vicky says
"I love her, and she is having my baby, she is mine" Craig says pacing the floor
"You have a wife and children, she didn't need this" Vicky says
"And do you think i need to kidnap an agents?" Craig says shouting
"Why did you then?" Vicky asked
"She couldn't leave well enough alone!" Craig says turning towards Vicky
"Freeze" Tony shouts gun pointed at Craigs head
"Ah, Mr DiNozzo nice of you to koin us" Craig says grabbing Vicky tighter around the neck
"Let her go or i will shoot" Tony shouts
"And then how will you find ur lab rat?" Craig asks
"Let her go!" Tony shouts firing a warning shot above Craigs head

Craig turns his gun towards Tony and fires a couple of shots at him one of them grazing Tony's shoulder and he falls to the ground clutching his shoulder with his hand,
he turns to Vicky and aims the gun at her head

"You don't want to do this!" Vicky says
"And why not?" Craig asks
"Your gonna be a father again doesn't that mean anything to you?" Vicky asks trying to use the baby to get him to calm down
"Thats not going to be a problem anymore" Craig says
"What are you going to do?" Vicky asks
"No mother, no baby" Craig says looking up towards where Tony is
"I won't let you hurt her!" Vicky says runing towards Craig and grabbing his wrist so that he cannnot use the gun

Shots fire out of the gun as Vicky struggles to get it off of Craig, he grabs her by the neck and stops her wriggling, she tries to move but her breathing is getting slower
and slower as she tries to stop him from choking her. She statrs to lose conciousness as he throws her down the stairs slamming to the ground when she reaches the
bottom of one of the flights of stairs. Vicky is now on the 5th floor, Craig on the 6th and Tony on the 7th. Tony manages to get ot his feet again and shoots Craig in
the leg watching him fall to the floor. He quickly pulls out his cell and dials Gibbs's number.

"Tony do you have him yet?" Gibbs asks
"Yeah i managed to shoot him in the leg, Vicky is ok i thnk but she is unconcious at the bottom of the stairwell on floor 5" Tony says
"Ill send someone to get Vicky you try to get Craig and i will get this bloody door open" Gibbs says throwing the cell at the door
"Ow!" Tony says and closes the cell and puts it back in his pocket

Veron arrives at Emmas room to find it empty and the room has been trashed, Ziva runs towards Veron and looks into the room.

"She's gone" Veron says angrily

CHAPTER 22: TIME IS RUNNING OUT

Gibbs, Veron, Tony, Kate, Ziva, McGee and Vicky are in the bullpen they are discussing the best plan of attack to get Abby and Emma back, the director is standing
outside of MTAC watching the two teams becoming one huge crime fighting machine.

"Kate and Tony take the south entrance, Veron and Vicky take the west entrance, McGee and Ziva take the east entrance and the Director and I will take the north
entrance, everyone clear on that?" Gibbs asks the group
"Got it" They all say in unison
"Will you be joining us Director?" Veron asks his back to her
"Ready when you are" The director says stunned how Veron could have known she was standing there
"Lets go get our girls" Gibbs says and they all load their weapons and put on their protective gear

They arrive at the warehouse to the sound of gunfire and bullets ring out as they hit the windsheild of Gibbs' car as he approaches the front of the warehouse. The others
are all in position around the warehouse ready to move in.

"How did you know that they were being held here?" The director asks
"Ziva and Vicky spotted them on the way to interview a suspect" Gibbs says in a hushed tone

The groups all go into position and start making their way towards the building, guns raised and held out in front of them. Veron and Vicky are the first to reach their
position as they anounce to everyone through the headsets.

"Veron and Smith in position, standing by" Veron says whispering
"DiNozzo and Todd in position, ready on your mark boss" Tony says
"McGee and Ziva in position boss" McGee says
"In position any visuals?" Gibbs asks
"Negative" Veron says
"Negative boss" Tony says
"We have a visual on the east entrance, female" McGee says
"No body move untill we get confirmation of the target" Gibbs says
"I think it is Agent Minion" Ziva says
"You THINK agent David" Gibbs says in an angered tone
"Visual confirmed as Agent Minion boss" Ziva says
"On my mark move in" Gibbs says "Go, go, go"

It felt like she had been in this same room for days, she had only been there for about 6 hours but it had felt so much longer, she was hungry which was no surprise as she could
eat more than anyone had ever before and now she was eating for two she could use that as an excuse to eat more. She looked over into the corner of the room and tried to focus
on the figure in the corner, she squinted and best she could but it just seemed to be a black figure which could have been a woman or man or the bastards that had taken her
from the hospital bed she has no comfortably resting in.

"Who's there?" Emma called out into the darkness aiming the question at the figure
"Emma?" she heard back the voice groggy and slow
"Abby?" Emma said hoping it wasn't
"Yeah its me, i thought you were dead!"
"Nah a little bomb won't stop me!" Emma said smiling and letting out a laughing sigh
"I'm so glad you are ok, i was worried when the bomb went off that you didn't make it out in time" Abby said trying to stay concious
"I didn't make it out, you should see my face and hands they are so messed up" Emma said still feeling the burn on her skin
"Why did you save me even though you could have been killed?" Abby asked closing her eyes
"It was my fault that we were even in that position, a crazy guy I had an affair with a while back tried to kill me and used the lab as a prime setting"

She heard no responce from Abby and kept trying to talk to her but still Abby didn't respond, suddenly she heard what she assumed sounded like gun fire, but it was far away it
seemed untill she could hear footsteps running towards the room they were in. The door opened and David and Agent Best entered the room and loaded their guns, David armed
with a shotgun and Agent Best had her FBI sig, Amy walked up to Abby and slapped her hard across the face a couple of times waking her up.

"Bitch!" Abby screamed trying to free herself from the restraints
"Leave her alone!" Emma shouted
"I don't think it is very sensible for you to be shouting and stressing your out or something horrible may happen to the baby" David said snidely
"Who are you to talk? i am surprised your sober enough to even stand!" Emma shot back
"Little Whore!" David said grabbing Emmas hair and pulling her head back towards his face
"Easy David we want her calm for the happy ending!" Craig said walking out from the shadows
"You son of a bitch!" Emma screamed at Craig
"I heard your little conversation before with Abby and i don't think you told her all the truth" Craig said kneeling in front of Emma
"What is going on here?" Abby asked

Craig walks over to Abby and unties her, grabbing her arms and binding her wrists he pulls her over to where Emma is. He throws Abby onto a chair and ties her to it and moves it
in front of Emma so they can see each other.

"Its time that everyone knew the truth about Emma Harvey the little Home wrecker" Craig says

CHAPTER 23: THE SHOWDOWN

The Doors open into a long hallway as Ziva holds out her sig and points it at the running target, McGee follows behind her and clears the rooms as they approach them. Ziva only has
one thing on her mind, cathing these bastards that have caused her pain for the last week, the stab wound to her abdomen hasn't healed properly yet but she could not miss out on a
chance to nail the bastards that did this to her. She follows Agent Minion until she rounds the corner, Ziva follows and quickly turns the corner to see Minion pointing a gun at her,
Ziva doesn't miss a beat, Minion puts her finger on the trigger and barely has a chance to squeeze it as Ziva fires out a shot that lands right in between her eyes as her lifeless body
falls to the ground.

Kate and Tony enter through their door and seeing no sign of anyone begin to clear the rooms one by one untill they hear a shot ring out and Ziva over the headset.

"Agent Minion immobilised, area secured Boss" Ziva says
"Area secured Boss" Tony reports
"Area secured Gibbs" Veron adds
"Good work now all head to the main room up the stairs" Gibbs orders "Ziva McGee Kate DiNozzo take the East side Staircase the rest of us will take the West side"
"Confirmed boss" They all report back

They all move towards one of the two stair cases Gibbs leading the West side team and DiNozzo leading the East side team. They make their way up the stairs and both turn
towards each other Gibbs signals for them cover him and Veron as they approach the door and hear voices inside the room. Gibbs signals to everyone with his fingers, 1....2....3....
He breaks open the door with his foot and enters carefully to the right, Veron to the left, Smith and Ziva enter on their six's and the rest stay back and cover the stairs just incase
of any unexpected company.

"Glad you could join us, ah i see you have brought the gang, your just in time for the grand finale" Craig says
"You mean the part where i blow your head to smitherines!" Veron says aiming his sig at Craigs head
"Now now Jason you wouldn't want to do that to your cousin would you?" Craig says looking at Emma and Vicky as their faces register the news
"Your no cousin of mine!" Veron says getting angry
"Testy, testy, Jason now where was I, oh yeah i was just telling Abby the great news that this little whore is carry my child" Craig said
"You leave her the hell alone" Vicky says also aiming her sig at Craigs face
"I see you brought the bitch!" Agent Best says

Vicky turns to see Agent Best with a gun to Abbys head and her arm around her neck, smiling she death stares Vicky and walks towards David and Craig. Veron turns to Gibbs
and tells him that he does not need them and that him and Vicky will handle it.

"Abby is one of us I am not leaving her!" Gibbs says
"We will try to get them to let her go" Veron says and turns to Craig
"Let Abby go, you don't want her you want me and Vicky" Veron says to Craig
"Fine, on one condition" Craig says
"What?" Vicky asks
"That they back off and leave us to it" David says
"Its done" Veron says

Amy lets go of Abby and she falls to the floor, Veron and Vicky go to her and help her to her feet and walk her to the door nd hand her to Gibbs and DiNozzo and they then shut the
door behind them leaving Veron and Vicky in there to defend themselves.

CHAPTER 24: THE FINALE

Craig Walks over to the other end of the room, Veron has his gun fixed on David and Vicky has hers on Amy. He picks up a scalpul and walks back to Emma and stands behind her
smiling as he looks at Veron.

"This bitch has taken up far too much of my time" Craig says holding the scalpul to her throat
"Dont' your dare hurt her" Veron says
"Oh you dare me do you?" Craig says digging it into her neck breaking the skin as a small stream of blood exits the wound, Emma Screams and Veron and Vicky take a step
towards her hoping to try to help her before Craig does anything stupid.
"Back off!" Craig says moving the scalpul a little further along her neck as Emma screams again tears streaming down her face as blood drips onto the floor and her hospital gown.
"You hurt her anymore and we will start shooting!" Vicky says
"Go ahead by the time you get them Emma will be dead!" Craig says removing the scalpul from Emma's neck and moving it down her body to her stomach.
"Don't you even think about it!" Veron says
"Sorry it was the first thing i thought of when i heard that this whore was pregnant" Craig says digging the scalpul into the gown making a little cut just over her stomach showing her
navel.

Craig raises his hand and begins to drop it when a shot rings out of Vickys Gun and the scalpul lands onto Emmas stomach and causing a cut before it falls to the floor. Vicky then
re-aims her gun back to Agent Best who is still smiling at her like a cheshire cat. Best takes a cheap shot at Vicky and catches her shoulder and fires a reponse and fires two shots into
the abdomen and she quickly makes her way to Best to check she is going to stay down. Veron looks towards Vicky to check she is alright and then turns his attention back to
David and he see he is aiming at Vicky so without hesitation Veron opens fire one hitting David in the upper leg and the other in the arm. Veron runs to check on Vicky.

"Are you ok?" Veron asks
"Yeah its only a little graze, i'm not so sure about Emma" Vicky says looking at Emma who has lost conciousness.
"Emma!" Veron says kneeling next to her and tearing his shirt to put pressure onto her neck to stop it from bleeding

Craig opens his eyes and seeing Veron with his back to him reaches out for Davids gun and aims the gun at him, Vicky notices movement in the corner of her
eyes and turns to see Craig aiming at Veron and she grabs her gun.

"Jason!" Vicky screams as he throws himself on the ground and she plows three rounds into his chest the last being the kill shot.
"Bastard!" Vicky says smiling at Veron

Gibbs and the rest of the Team rush into the room and see three dead bodies on either side of the room and the other at the back of the room.

"We need medical assistace in here now!" Veron shouts
"Ducky has just got here" Gibbs says moving out the way for him to enter.

The team are processing the scene, taking pictures, sketching, measuring and bagging and tagging while Emma and Vicky are getting medical assistance from Ducky and Palmer.

"You were just lucky that Craig didn't have a gun or the odds would have been in their favour" Gibbs says to Veron
"He wouldn't know what to do with a gun if her had one" Veron says laughing at the thought of it "Hows Abby?"
"She is going to be fine she is just a little drugged and sore but she will be back to work in no time." Gibbs says "And Emma?"
"She lost a bit of blood but they have assured me that her and the baby should come out of it ok." Veron says looking at Vicky sitting in the back of the ambulance
"Vicky took a hit in the shoulder but it is better than expected as it was mostly tissue and muscle damage it missed the bones completely" Veron says and looks back to Gibbs
"Its been a pleasure woking with you Agent Veron" Gibbs says holding out his hand
"Same, and its Jason" Veron says shaking his hand
"Jethro" Gibbs says

THE END