Here it is folks, the last entry. I hope it's everything you could have hoped for. I'm sorry it took so long.


"This'll be what, the third time we've gone over this?" DiNozzo said quietly to Ziva as he surveyed the lunchroom. "What exactly is Gibbs looking for?"

"Clues," Ziva said simply.

James and Skop peeked around the edge of the door. "Why are we here, Skop?" James asked. He had asked this before, but Skop wouldn't tell him.

"Is very importance that you is here," Skop told him. "Come." In the few seconds that all of the agents' backs were turned, Skop rushed James to and under the table. "Where is you was when you was being big and puts cadets into Labyrinth?" It was a risky question, but Skop needed him to be in the exact spot that he was.

"I was on the table, right at the edge. Why?"

"You must be getting up on there right where you was before," Skop said.

"Why?"

Skop quickly thought of a suitable answer. "You is helping Abby solve crime."

"Then why don't the others know we're here?"

"You is having to get here before you can be helping and you is not supposed to be being here in first place." James gave Skop an odd look, but moved to get up anyway.

McGee was the first one to spot him. "James! Why and how did you get here?"

James froze for a moment. "I wanted to help," he said, climbing on the table.

"James, don't do that! You could fall, or—" The wind suddenly picked up and whipped around. McGee couldn't see. It blew harder and harder and then…it stopped.

There was a groan. McGee looked around. Spread out on the floor were the five missing cadets and his three fellow agents. James and Skop were nowhere to be seen. "James! James, where are you?" he said.

"I think," said Ziva, getting up. "He has gone back to where he came from."

"That's too bad," Tony said, pushing himself to his feet. "I was starting to get attached to the little guy."

"I feel sorry for whoever gets to tell Abby," said McGee.

"As Senior Field Agent, I say it's not me," Tony said. "McGee, you can do it."

"I think Ziva should do it, since she's the probationary agent."

"Fine."

"What? I do not get a say in this?" Ziva asked, irritated.

"Nope," the other two answered.

xxx

They brought the cadets back to headquarters for questioning. The five couldn't remember anything from the past two days except for strange dreams about goblins and a weird man dressed in strange clothes. Even with intense questioning, there were no answers. The higher-ups were completely baffled, but since the cadets had been returned safely there wasn't a whole lot they could do to keep the case open.

Abby was in a state. For two days she couldn't work because she was so worried about James. When she finally came back, there were a lot of hugs and everyone was afraid to push her very far.

She was working on a fingerprint late in the evening when she heard a familiar voice. "Abby is okay?"

Abby dropped her Caf-Pow, and it exploded on the floor. She slowly turned around. "Skop?"

"Skop is me, I is Skop, a drink you just dropped." Skop was sitting on her lab table. "Why is Abby being upset?"

"I've been worried about you and James," Abby admitted. "You just disappeared. I had no way of knowing what had happened to you."

"We is fine. We go back to home."

"Is that where James is now? Home?" Abby asked.

Skop looked down. "Master is being afraid of visiting. He is being afraid that you will be not liking him."

Abby was shocked. "Why in the world would I not like him?"

Skop looked at her with his head cocked, like a puppy. "You is not knowing?"

"No, I is not knowing," Abby said.

"Is because he is Goblin King," Skop told her.

"Goblin King? He can't be the Goblin King. That guy's like, twenty years older than James."

"Actually, it would be more like ninety by your standards, but close enough." Abby jerked back as Jareth, King of the Goblins, appeared.

"So you're James?" Abby asked sadly.

"I'm sorry to have deceived you, Abby. It was my brother's doing, but I feel guilty for betraying your trust. I'd also like to thank you, for being my guardian while I was a younger version of myself."

"You're welcome—I mean, I couldn't just kick a six-year-old out. That would be cruel."

"Yes, it would. I'd like to repay you for your kindness, Abby."

"It's not necessary, really—"

"Once, long ago, you were a mouse in my Labyrinth," Jareth said quietly. Abby looked at him, shocked.

"W-what do you mean?" Abby asked.

"You had another brother, between Luca and yourself. At one time you wished him away. Being the amazing young woman you are, you immediately set out to rescue him. However, you didn't rescue him in time. All memories of him were erased and he became a goblin while you returned to your world."

"What? I-I don't believe it. There is no. Way."

"I think his rescue is long overdue, don't you?" A small glass ball appeared in Jareth's hand. He tapped it on Skop's head, and it cracked like an egg, with a silver substance running out of it. Skop started to grow and change, until he was the spitting image of Luca.

"H-how…" Abby couldn't say anymore. She just stood there, looking lost.

Skop gently reached over and squeezed her hand in comfort. "My name is Jason," he said quietly, with a crooked smile on his face. That was when Abby burst into tears and hugged him. Memories of him slowly flickered back into her mind.

They all stood there in silence for a moment before Abby said, "Thank you. Thank you so, so much."

Jareth smiled at her. "Good-bye, Abby, Jason. I bid you good luck." And with a sweep of his cloak he was gone.


I hope this story has touched your heart the way it has mine. Until next time, friends.