Another date, another dud. This one was a blind date, courtesy of Shannon. I know she means well, but she always seems to think that is a guy is her type, then he must be my type too. She doesn't seem to get that I'm not into the beefy, jock guys who think beer chugging is an impressive ability. If you think I'm being too harsh on this guy, I can assure you he's likely telling his friends about me right now and referring to me as "Shannon's geeky friend," which is the same thing he kept calling me all night. Suffice it to say, I wasn't really his type either.

I know that I'm not the idea of womanly perfection. I'm not a size 0, I don't have perfectly highlighted blonde hair that never frizzes or is out of place, I don't have perfect skin, and I can't spend money to get manicures, pedicures, and waxings on a regular basis. I guess I just always assumed, though, that there was some guy out there who didn't care about that. Maybe I've just been living in a fairytale, what with thinking that we really did have soul mates.

Sorry if I've depressed you all with my increasingly cynical view on life and romance. Just one of those moods, you know?

Tim sat back as he finished the blog entry. It was the sixty-eighth most recent entry in the blog of Petty Officer Anna Quigley, a young woman who had gone missing three days earlier. The apartment she shared with fellow P.O. Shannon Pearson was clean with no signs of forced entry or a struggle, but Quigley's car had still been in the parking lot of the apartment complex and she hadn't returned to the apartment since that Wednesday. None of her belongings had been packed and there had been no bank withdrawals or charges to her credit card within that time period either. It was as though she'd simply fallen off the face of the earth.

Quigley's computer had been transported to Abby's lab and Tim had been given the task of going through it for any sign of where she may have gone, be it voluntarily or otherwise. There was little she had in her personal folders aside from a few family pictures. Her e-mail account showed no suspicious e-mails and there were no questionable websites in her favorites. She liked old time Hollywood movies, she had a slight obsession with Bette David and with Archie comics, she frequented cooking websites to find new recipe, and she had an Ebay account on which she'd sold a few comic books and an old jewelry box that she never used. In fact, the only thing of interest that Tim had managed to find was a personal blog that Quigley kept. It was a private blog and was only being read by six people, five being good friends of Quigley and one being a cousin. Tim had decided to focus on the blog for any insight as to who P.O. Anna Quigley was.

Anna was an insecure woman who tried to hide her insecurities behind humor and sarcasm. She was one of those self-deprecating people who figured that if she insulted herself before someone else did it wouldn't hurt so much. She considered herself homely, but she didn't wish to look like the fashion models and celebrities who supposedly represent the societal ideal of beauty; rather, she wished that people would simply stop putting labels on beauty. Anna had trouble meeting men who were "intellectually stimulating" enough for her and, even at the young age of twenty-six, was beginning to fear that there would be no story book ending for her, that she simply wasn't meant to get married.

Much of the blog, which she'd been keeping for two years, was filled with bitter and dour entries in which Anna bemoaned her romantic life –or lack, thereof –and analyzed herself as a potential girlfriend, never quite understanding how to better herself. She dreamed of tales of romance like the ones she'd seen in old movies; tales in which gentlemanly men would woo her and romance her and the two would dance together, holding each other closely under a moonlit night.

There were no stories of her attending raucous parties or any acts of spontaneity. There were few references to friends, aside from Shannon who, it seemed, Anna both admired and envied for her all-American girl looks and her ability to attract any guy she wanted. Anna's social life was limited to her work in the Navy and her cyber life.

Tim had started with the most recent entry of her blog – a short entry in which she mentioned how the cute new guy who had moved into the apartment across from them had turned out to be gay – and had worked his way back. The overall tone of her blog rarely changed. Sometimes she was in a brighter mood; sometimes she was in a darker mood. Mostly, though, she was snarky and pessimistic.

"How are things with your cyber girlfriend?" Tony asked as he walked up behind Tim, startling the younger agent slightly.

"She's not my girlfriend," he snapped.

"No, you just want her to be."

"I just…I understand where she's coming from." And it was true. Many of the things in Anna's blog were things Tim understood all too well. He knew what it was like to feel as though you weren't living up to a certain standard of "perfection" and to feel as though no one was going to ever just accept you for who you were. He knew how it felt when the fairytale ending you'd always imagined you'd get began to seem more and more like an unattainable dream. Most of all, he knew what it was like to feel alone. God, did he hate feeling alone. "It's not easy to be told by popular magazines and stupid MTV shows that you have to look and act a certain way in order to be liked," Tim said with a pointed look. "I'm sure even you went through a few awkward phases in your life, Tony."

"Ha! Anthony DiNozzo does not do awkward." He ran his hand slickly through his hair. "We DiNozzos are cool and suave at every moment," he explained as he sat into a nearby chair and leaned it back. Unfortunately, he leaned back a smidge too far and both he and the chair toppled over as Tim watched with great amusement.

"You were saying?"

Tony glared at him as he stood and righted the chair. "Doesn't count if there aren't women here." When he saw Tim's disbelieving look, he relented. "Okay, yes, I've had my share of awkward moments. Who hasn't? I'm just saying, I don't think it's really good idea for you to become so involved in this woman just by reading her blog," Tony told him sincerely. "That's not healthy. It's like falling in love with a fictional character or something."

"I'm not in love with her, Tony," Tim insisted. "I just get what she's talking about." The truth was, Tim had begun developing a small crush on the missing woman. He hadn't initially felt anything for her, not even when they'd received a picture of the woman. She was a rather plain-looking woman. Medium height, medium build, brown eyes, frizzy brown hair, slightly freckled. Not exquisitely beautiful, but not incredibly ugly. She was just…there. She was one of those people who probably blended in well with a crowd. She was just kind of unforgettable. People probably had trouble remembering her name, let alone her face.

But Tim was now having trouble forgetting both of those things. He'd grown increasingly interested in her, even forgoing lunch to read more of her blog and learn more about her. It wasn't about finding her anymore for Tim; it was about knowing her.

"Whatever you tell yourself," Tony told him, giving Tim a slight pat on the back. "I'm just saying, for your own good, that you should maybe ease up on this. If you haven't found anything helpful in any of the entries from the past month or so, it's unlikely you're going to find anything at all."

"I'm just being thorough." Tim knew that was a lie, and he knew Tony knew. Still, he couldn't quite let up on this, on Anna, just yet. "But I will at least take a break," he conceded. He stood, wincing as his bones creaked. He didn't realize just how long he'd been sitting down here, hunched over Anna's computer.

Tony grabbed his arm, pulling him toward the door. "We've got some pad Thai left over upstairs. I'm sure your stomach will appreciate it."

Tim gave the computer a final glance. The window to Anna's blog was still up, just begging to be read. What more did Anna have to say?

AN: This is a short multi-chaptered fic. I'll post one chapter per day!