Quick reminder of what's happened: the team + CGIS are investigating the disappearance of two little girls (Tallulah and Lucille) who have been taken from the local shopping mall. We don't know why it's happened yet, although we do know that one parent is NCIS, and the other is CGIS, so our favorite CGIS redhead is working with our naval friends. She and Ziva have also just finished interviewing friends of the parents of the missing children, to see if they knew anything. After that, Abigail went down to Abby's lab to see if she'd made any headway on cleaning up footage of the girls' abduction.

This picks up from there.


It wasn't until after Gibbs, Tony, and McGee returned from the crime scene at Millennium Crossings Mall that Abby got a breakthrough in the case. Telling herself that it was better than nothing, she called Gibbs, Abigail, Tony, McGee, and Ziva to the lab.

"What do you got, Abs?" Gibbs and Abigail asked in unison as they all gathered around her main monitor.

"I saw the footage of Tallulah and Lucille being taken from the mall, and being forced out into that van, but the license plate information was very pixelated—until now."

She directed their attention to one of the images that had been blown up, so they could see it better.

"It says '1-Koala-Joker-2-9,' but does anyone see what I see? I'm from New Orleans, and I saw it immediately."

Gibbs, Tony, McGee, and even Ziva picked up on the scientist's observation, so Abigail rolled her eyes.

"Help out the Ohio country girl?"

Tony had mercy on her. "First of all, Borin, the plate here is yellow, with black letters, instead of white with blue letters. This plate also has only five digits, instead of the modern, standard six, and it has two sets of letters in the upper corners, and information about Washington, D.C. being the nation's capital."

"So I see." Abigail replied upon reexamination. "What about it?"

"These kinds of plates were made almost exclusively in 1966. The plates before these—at least in the sixties—all specifically stated the District Of Columbia as the nation's capital."

Abigail arched an eyebrow. "Then what happened in 67?"

"The plates changed formats again, and eventually started looking how they do now."

Gibbs chimed in, "They also started carrying registration tags in 67, and by 75, they had the 'taxation without representation' slogan, too. Use your powers of deduction, Borin, and think about these clues for a minute."

She had an epiphany. "These plates are so old that they were probably bought from a collector, or something, because the chances of an actual car from 1966 being on the road are slim to none."

"Bingo." Gibbs turned back to Abby. "Anything else you want to tell u—"

He had been about to ask Abby if there was anything else that she could tell them about the license plate, or the van itself, but stopped when he heard the elevator ding out in the hallway. They all knew that Ducky and Palmer were in Autopsy, going about other business, but they were so predictable, meaning that they had no reason to be coming into the lab yet. So who could the newcomer be? Ziva even did a quick headcount of those in the lab to see who was missing.

"Wow—you're all here."

It was Director Vance. After all these years, he could Gibbs better than he wanted to, so he hadn't bothered to look in the bullpen before heading down to Abby's lab. What he hadn't been banking on was Abigail, Tony, McGee, and Ziva all being there, too.

"Did you need something, director?" Abigail asked.

"Right." Vance cleared his throat, and then spotted the image that the other six were looking at. "Miss Sciuto, could you zoom out, please?"

"Okay."

Abby did as asked, and they all watched as Vance examined the van, practically brooding. They all watched him for a minute before Abigail gave a pointed cough.

"Leon, what?"

He turned to look at them all. "I just got a call that this particular vehicle was in the the area of another abduction."

Abigail blanched. "Oh, my God. Is anything known yet?"

"Another child has been taken, and like I said, this van was nearby. The child in question this time is named Natalia Ludlow. She was taken from a class field trip."

"Where was it?" Gibbs asked.

"The arcade."

At Gibbs' right side, Tony was immediately fighting back the desire to make a crack about the movie War Games because it had popped into his head. On balance, he decided it would be best to act mature, lest Gibbs (or Borin) whack him for saying anything close to juvenile.

"How old is Natalia Ludlow? Tallulah and Lucille are already twelve and ten."

Vance consulted a notepad he had marked up with notes. "According to what I wrote, she's eight years old."

"Tallulah, Lucille, and Natalia must all be so scared and confused." Abby murmured.

"I have no doubt that they are, Miss Sciuto." Vance agreed.

Ziva held her hands in the 'time-out' position. "I appreciate the complicated severity of the situation, but what, other than this mysterious van, makes this an NCIS matter?"

Abigail elbowed her way into the conversation again, turning to Vance. "Did you say that Natalia's last name is Ludlow?"

"They're both agents at CGIS now, but not to long ago, Natalia's mother used to be one us." Vance reported after a quick look at his notes again. "Professionally, though, she and her husband are known as Special Agents—"

"Cain Ludlow, and Emily Turner." Abigail finished.

Gibbs also got back into the conversation. "Who wants to be an actual grown-up, and fill in the blanks?"

"Ludlow and Turner are analysts that work in the CGIS bullpen; their desks are on the other side of where my team sits. I, uh, met Natalia once, when her parents and I stayed after hours to burn the midnight oil on a case."

"What happened?" McGee asked curiously.

"Natalia wandered over to my desk, and I entertained her with magic tricks."

Tony blurted, "You do magic, Borin?"

"I do."

Deftly, she reached into Abby's pocket and pulled out a quarter—she always carried quarters to pay for a drink from the Caff-Pow machine. After Abby immediately sidestepped her in surprise, the redhead held her palm flat, her borrowed coin in the center. Before their eyes, Abigail snapped her fingers, and the coin vanished.

She turned to Ziva and pointed at her jacket.

"Check your left pocket." Abigail told her friend.

Ziva did, and to her astonishment, she extracted the quarter.

"Impressive, Abigail." she complimented before tossing the coin back to Abby.

Meanwhile, Gibbs was impressed against his will. Back when Shannon and Kelly had still been alive, he had been gifted in the sleight of hand, just like Abigail appeared to be. For Kelly's benefit, Shannon had always pretended not to know how the tricks worked, even though they were the same ones Gibbs had shown her when they began dating. All the while, Kelly had been completely enthralled, never once questioning the magic.

Those were some of Gibbs' best memories of his family.

Still, he had to keep his current family grounded.

"We have three missing kids now, and the newest is quite a bit younger than the original two!" he barked. "God forbid this whacko strikes again, and takes a toddler or a baby!"

While Vance was unfazed, Abigail, Abby, Ziva, Tony, and McGee each nearly jumped out of their skins at his harsh tone. But he was right, so they all sobered up and got their heads back in the game.

Vance changed the tide of the conversation, however, by once more speaking to the lone scientist in the room.

"Miss Sciuto, I know you're unaccustomed to going into the field, but we're going to need you on this one."

Abby was taken aback, but she did her best to not let it show. "Alright. I'll get my portable equipment, but…"

"Why are you needed in the field?"

"Precisely, sir."

"There's an issue with the security footage at the arcade, as in the abductors or someone tampered with it, on purpose. We need someone with your technological knowhow to rectify things."

"I understand."

"Very good. Can you be ready in ten minutes or less?"

"I can."

And she bowed herself out of the conversation, getting her things ready. McGee joined her, to help.

Vance, Gibbs, Abigail, Tony, and Ziva stood in the doorway for a new powwow. This time, the director spoke to Abigail.

"If you're wondering how I know everything that I've just told you just now, Special Agent Borin, let's just say that I have eyes everywhere."

"Sounds about right."

"To that end, I've taken the liberty of directing your team over to the arcade, to help the LEOs out."

"Thank you. I'll be in touch with my people soon." Abigail said. "What are you going to do, director?"

"Go back to my office to hold the fort down, and turn things back to you and Special Agent Gibbs." he looked around at them all. "Now if you'll pardon me, everyone, I'll be on my way."

They made a path amongst themselves for him, and no sooner had the elevator door shut behind Vance than Abby came hurrying over, dressed for going out. She even had her trusty lace umbrella over a shoulder. McGee was right behind her, and gentleman that he was, he was carrying all of his friend's portable equipment in their various bags or carriers.

Abby looked around at her friends. "I'm ready to go! Whose car am I riding in?"


As there was no dead body, Ducky and Palmer stayed behind, but Tony drove the MCRT van, with Ziva riding shotgun, and McGee in the equipment bay. That left Abby and Abigail with Gibbs. He drove, while both women sat in the backseat.

Abigail had calls to make, and promptly claimed that the 'loudness' of Gibbs' thinking would distract her. On the other hand, Abby was just feeling sick: three kids—two of whom had special needs—were missing, and the lack of concrete leads was tantamount to distressing. The last thing she wanted was to immediately focus on was Gibbs' erratic driving patterns.

Abigail seemed to sense Abby's distress, even while on the phone, so she reached out for her hand. Abby took it and immediately felt calmer, even going so far as to start daydreaming about being back at Abigail's place with her and her menagerie of pets. She even thought about kissing Abigail, turning to putty when the subject of her daydreams intertwined their fingers began deliberately stroking hers with her thumb. Clearly, Abigail had the same thoughts on the brain.

Up front, from the rear view mirror, Gibbs noticed this exchange of affection.

He pretended not to notice.

But he was happy, because he had been rooting for Abby and Abigail for a long time.