A/N: New NCIS fic, this one's longer than a one-shot. I'm not saying what couples, if any, are involved in this because it would give too much away. At least for now, anyways, give it a couple of chapters. It's AU, not totally, but almost. Hope you enjoy:)

Disclaimer: If I owned NCIS, I wouldn't be sitting here writing this, Kate would NOT have died, and she and Tony would be together. So no, I don't own. Don't sue. :)

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"Gibbs, what happened?" Kate asked as she walked into the NCIS headquarters followed by McGee. "Why did we get called in at this time in the morning?"

"You may want to sit down for this," Gibbs said, and waited until them two of the had sat down before starting to talk. Ducky stood next to him with a grim look on his face. "Last night..."

"I came as fast as I could what's up?" Abby asked as she ran in, looking out of breath. She sat down on the edge of Kate's desk and looked at Gibbs expectantly.

"Last night," Gibbs repeated. "We got a call in from Tony saying he thought someone was watching him. He was told to stay where he was and stay calm. We had a couple of officers stop by his place and they found the door open and the house empty."

"Oh god," Abby said, shocked. "Do we know where he is now?"

"No," Gibbs hesitated. "That's why you're here. Draw up a list of everyone who could have targeted Tony in particular, especially in the past three months. Find which ones of those are still in the area, and we'll go from there. Anyone who'd rather not be involved in the case, say now."

Ducky glanced at Kate who was staring forwards, her eyes distant. Only he knew how she really felt about Tony, and therefore how worried she'd be right now. He expected her to tell Gibbs she couldn't help, that it'd be too hard, but she kept her eyes forwards and didn't say a thing.

"Okay, good, let's get to work," Gibbs nodded, grabbed his coffee and walked away.

Abby took a deep breath. "Who would do this? I mean, it's Tony, he's harmless. Who would want to hurt him?" She said, more to herself than to anyone else.

McGee stood up and walked over to her, putting one hand on each of her shoulders. "Don't worry, Abbs, he'll be fine. Let's just do what we can to help find him, okay?"

Abby nodded. "Yeah. I'll take his computer and see what I can find on there."

McGee smiled and walked back to his desk. "Kate, you okay?" He asked, glancing over at her.

"Huh?" She broke out of her daze. "Yeah. Fine. Let's do this."

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Half an hour later Gibbs returned to see how the four of them were doing. Kate and Tim were surrounded by files and Abby was engrossed in checking Tony's computer. Ducky sat on a chair opposite Kate's desk, helping her sort through some old files.

"Any news?" Gibbs asked.

"Nothing here, Sir," McGee replied.

Gibbs turned to Kate and Ducky. "We have a couple of things, but nothing much really. They're the only people still in the area," Kate handed him three files.

Gibbs nodded. "What about you, Abbs?"

"Well, for one thing Tony is so not organized. I mean, his computer's a mess, he never deletes any mail, some of this dates back to nearly two years ago. But there was one message from last week which was kind of creepy," she moved across so Gibbs could look with her. "It's from an unknown sender, and the email address isn't even in service anymore. I tried to trace the IP address but all I got was an internet cafe in town. But it's what it says that scared me most. 'Tony, you better watch your back, after that little prank of yours you never know when someone's gonna try and get you back.' And he doesn't leave a name or any sign off either. Obviously, I mean why would he!? Anyways, he uses a basic font and writing style, so no real indications or clues to who he is."

Gibbs took a deep breath and stood up straight. "Good work Abbs. Let's see what we can get from that email."

Tim stood up and walked over to read the email, discussing their next move with Abby. Ducky made sure no one else was listening before pulling the file from Kate's hand to talk to her properly. "Are you okay?"

She shrugged. "Sure."

"You don't have to hide it from me," Ducky watched as her shoulders fell and she fought back tears.

"He has to be okay, Ducky, he just has to be," she sighed. "He can't get hurt before I can tell him."

"He'll be fine, we just have to do everything we can," he reassured her.

She nodded and took the file back off him. "I know we do, I just can't concentrate properly. All I can think of is him left somewhere hurt. Maybe even dead already. We know what these kind of people can do, we know that they are strong and won't stop until they've gotten what they want. We know they're unpredictable, which means anything could have happened and he could be anywhere. God, Ducky, I'm so worried," she ran a hand through her hair and leant back in her chair.

"Yes!" Ducky turned to face Abby as she jumped up happily. "We have a link. Whoever sent this email set up another one yesterday, and it links to an IP about fifteen minutes from here."

"Nice work Abbs," Gibbs said. "Let's get down there. McGee, Kate, you coming?"

"I am indeed," Tim stood up and walked around to Gibbs' side.

Kate looked at the files she had open in front of her, trying to decide whether or not to go with them. She knew this lead might be the one that led them to Tony, but she also knew it might not be. Maybe the right lead was in the files in front of her. Maybe it wasn't, maybe they'd have to think more deeply that what was written on paper to find anything. But she knew she couldn't take the chance of not finding him by paying attention to the 'what ifs'. "I'm coming," she nodded and walked around to Gibbs and Tim.

"Good," Gibbs smiled slightly at her. "Abby, Ducky, keep looking and if you find anything call me."

They nodded and Gibbs, Kate and McGee walked out of the headquarters.

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Just over fifteen minutes later they arrived at a small house situated just outside the town. There were only a couple of houses nearby, all of which looked old and run-down. There was a red mini parked in front of the house they were heading to, and the front door was slightly ajar. The three of them got out of the car and grabbed their guns, ready to defend themselves against anyone who got in their way. Gibbs walked through the door first and went straight ahead into the kitchen. Kate walked in next and went to the left, followed by McGee who closed the door and then took the stairs up.

"Clear," Gibbs shouted after checking the kitchen.

"Clear in here too," Kate called out from the living room. They met near the front door and followed McGee up the stairs.

"All the bedrooms are clear, boss, as is the bathroom," Tim said, joining them at the top of the stairs. "There's no one here."

Gibbs nodded. "McGee, check for a computer and see what you can find on that. We'll go check out the back."

They walked back down the stairs and McGee walked into the living room and switched on the computer. Gibbs opened the front door and Kate followed him out, through a side gate, and into the back yard. There wasn't much to see, the yard was paved with about half a dozen plant pots. There was a bench along the back wall of the house, and the door leading back into the house.

"Nothing here," Kate said, leaning against the back of the house. "Why would there be a car out the front, and the door open, if no one was here?"

Gibbs looked around at her. "Quick get-away, maybe. That or someone else got here before us."

"Gibbs," they turned to look into the house through the window at McGee. "I think I found something."

Gibbs nodded and walked back through the side gate. Kate leant her head back against the cool wall, took a deep breath, and followed him back into the house. She'd wanted something to be here so badly, some kind of clue to who had taken Tony and where they were now. But she was out of luck. It didn't seem like this lead was the one they needed. She walked in through the front door and joined Gibbs and McGee in the living room of the house.

"What is it, McGee?"

"Well, there's something in the browser history saying this guy checked his emails yesterday. The email checked was the same one set up yesterday, meaning this computer belongs to the person who emailed Tony. Or at least that person used this computer."

"Okay, anything else?" Gibbs asked.

"Well, there's..."

Kate stopped listening as she heard a noise from upstairs. Moving away from the two men she glanced up to the next floor, wondering whether she was imagining it. However, a few seconds later she heard it again. And then again. She looked back at Gibbs and McGee quickly, but they were too engrossed in the computer, and started walking up the stairs. The noise seemed to be coming from a closed door just to the left of the bathroom, and she headed to it nervously. She wasn't sure if she really wanted to see what was inside, but she knew she had to. Maybe it was just a cat, she told herself, but she knew she was just making excuses.

Slowly she pushed the door open, holding her breath. She gasped as she saw what was inside. Laying in a heap in front of the window was Tony. His clothes were covered in blood and he had a deep gash down the right side of his face. His eyes were screwed closed and she couldn't see whether or not he was breathing. She thought of calling for help but decided to check if he was breathing first. She took a few steps forwards and the door slammed behind her. She spun around quickly but before she could see who was there, everything went black.

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A/N2: I'm not usually the kind of person to end chapters with cliffhangers, but people can change!! Don't worry there won't be too many of them, mostly because I don't know how long it'll be between updates and I don't want to leave people hanging. Hope you liked the start. Please review and tell me your thoughts!!

Beth