Chapter 2

Lauren stepped out of the car when she reached the Navy Yard. She quickly unbuckled Kendall from her car seat and took her into her arms with her bag over her shoulder. Kendall rested her head on her mother's shoulder as they made their way to the Bullpen.

'Gibbs!' Lauren said as she reached his desk.

Gibbs stood up and made his way towards her. 'We are going to find him, he has not gotten my permission to die.' he said as he wiped back a tear that had escaped Lauren's eyes.

'I… I can't lose him Gibbs.' Lauren stuttered as more tears fell from her eyes. She looked at her now sleeping daughter in her eyes. 'What am I going to tell Kendall if her daddy doesn't get home?'

'I promise you Lauren, that I intend to do everything in my power to get him home to you, ok?' Gibbs said, as he looked Lauren in her eyes.

Lauren nodded and wiped her tears away. 'What happened? Do you know where him and Ellie went?'

Gibbs told Lauren to sit down. 'We think that they were in a gunfire when they decided to seek shelter in a container. We found a drop of blood where there once was a container and McGee is down with Abby trying to find out which container it was. When we have the number will it be much easier for us to find them.' Gibbs told Lauren as she sat and rooked Kendall in her arms.

'You should get some rest.' Gibbs told her.

'I don't think I will be able to sleep right now.' Lauren replied the fear clear in her eyes. Her husband and father to her daughter and soon to be son were out there probably injured. She would not be getting any rest until he was home safe with her.

'I know that you worry Lauren, but it is not good for you or the baby. Why don't you take Kendall down to Abby's lab so she can get some real sleep down there?'

Lauren nodded and rose from the chair before grabbing the back containing Kendall's stuff. 'Will you come down and tell me if you find anything new?'

'Yes I'll do that.' Gibbs said with a reassuring smile.

Lauren forced a smile back at him as she made her way towards the elevator.

The container soon stopped moving and Ellie noticed to her fright that Tony was having more and more trouble staying awake.

'Hey Tony! Let's look around the container and see if we can find out why they didn't want us to get anywhere near it.' Ellie said as she stood up.

'Yeah you do that… I'll just sit here and rest a little bit.' Tony said as he rested his head on the wall.

'Oh no! Get up Tony. You can help me look and we'll keep you awake that way.'

Tony groaned as he struggled to get up. Ellie quickly stepped in and pulled him up. They started to open up the boxes and noticed to their disappointment that they contained DVD's.

'And they are not even good.' complained Tony.

'I would have expected something else. Why would they not want us to find this?' Ellie asked in wonder.

'There must be something we are missing.' Tony said and Ellie could hear how tired his voice sounded.

Ellie looked around. 'Didn't the container look bigger on the outside?'

'What do you mean?' Tony asked his brain having a hard time concentrating due to the amount of blood he had lost.

Ellie walked over to the end of the container and started banging on it. Suddenly a small hole appeared in the wall.

'Hey Tony look!' Ellie said but got no respond. She made her way back to him.

Tony's eyes were closed so Ellie shook him awake. 'Hey Tony! Do not fall asleep on me, ok?'

'Not sleeping just resting.' Tony replied as he with difficulty stood up.

Together Tony and Ellie made their way through the small hole and saw a bunch of new boxes. Ellie opened one of them.

'It's money.' she said.

'Well that kind of explains why they didn't want us near the container, they wanted the money for themselves.' Tony said. 'I need to sit down.'

'Tony are you ok?' Ellie asked worried.

'Yeah I'm fine… I'm just feeling a little weak that's all, but I will be ok.'

'Just try to stay awake ok?'

'I'll do my best.' Tony said with a weak voice.

Kendall had woken up on the ride down to Abby's lab.

'Mommy why we at daddy's work?' Kendall asked with a tired voice.

'Because daddy had to work a little late so I thought we could go see aunt Abby and stay with her until he comes back.' Lauren said as she forced a smile on her face while Kendall rested her head on her mother's shoulder.

They were greeted by Abby when they entered the lab.

'Hi Lauren.' Abby said and you could see the compassion in her face. 'And hello to you sweetie.' she said to Kendall as she stroke a hand down her arm.

'Can you say hello to aunt Abby, Kendall?' Lauren asked her daughter.

Kendall looked up from her mother's shoulder. 'Hi Aunty Abby.' Kendall whispered as she burrowed her face in her mother's shoulder again.

Lauren looked at Abby. 'She is a little tired.'

'Does she know?' Abby asked as she looked at Kendall.

Lauren shook her head no. 'Can I put her down on your couch?'

'Yes of course you can.' Abby said as she made her way back to her computer to give mother and daughter some space.

Lauren gently lay Kendall down on the couch and found her teddy bear and duvet in the bag and placed the duvet over her body and then handed her the teddy bear. She stroked her daughter's head. 'Sleep tight baby.' Lauren said with a sad smile on her face. 'I will stay right outside with aunt Abby, ok?' Kendall nodded sleepy.

'I love you.' Lauren told her as she kissed her forehead.

'Love you too mommy.' Kendall said as her eyes closed and she fell asleep.

Ellie woke up suddenly and looked around. She then spotted Tony who lay not far from her and she quickly made her way to him and put a hand on his neck. She felt to her relieve a weak but steady pulse underneath her hand. He needs to get to a hospital soon, she thought.

'Tony? Come on please wake up.' she said as she shook his shoulder but with no luck. 'Hey DiNozzo!' she then yelled trying to sound like Gibbs but that attempt ended with the same result.

Ok you asked for it yourself Tony, she thought, as she pressed hard down on his gunshot wound.

'AHH Bishop what are you doing?' Tony hissed in pain as his eyes flew open.

'Sorry Tony but you gave me no choice. You are not supposed to fall asleep, you might not wake up again.' Ellie said with worry.

'I know but I can't stay awake much longer.' Tony said as his eyes started to close again.

Ellie shook him. 'Hey Tony look at me! I know it's hard right now but we will get out of here, ok. Gibbs will find us. He will bring you home to Lauren and Kendall, stay awake for them.'

'Lauren and Kendall...' Tony said as he thought about his family. 'You are right I won't fall asleep.' Tony said with a tired voice.

'We should leave some kind of trace for Gibbs and McGee to follow.' Ellie said as she looked around.

She then spotted the money. 'We can push the money out of these holes.' Ellie said as she grabbed a bundle of money and started to push them out of the holes while keeping an eye on Tony. He was really struggling to stay awake now and he was shivering a lot worse than he had just moments before. Now would be a very good time to show up Gibbs, she thought as she continued to leave the money trail.

TBC