Hey everyone! Sorry it took me so long to update! No excuses, except for crappy internet stuff. But yeah, thanks a ton to Pog Mahon for at least editing this early on so it would be ready for you all! Hopefully enjoy.

Chapter 7

"Damnit, damnit, damnit!"

Ziva's curses echoed around the squad room as she slammed her fist down on her desk. She and McGee had been up all night looking for any clue as to what happened to Abby, Tony, and the twins. Both of them had found only dead ends.

"What?" McGee asked, looking up from his computer to gaze wearily at Ziva.

"Nothing, again!" she said, just as wearily. "I checked all connections to Abby from ex-boyfriends to old lab partners and found nothing. Same with Tony. Anyone with a real grudge towards him is either in jail or has a solid alibi."

"Same here with those connected to the Armons." McGee muttered. "No outside connections check out with the kids or Christy and...wait a sec." McGee's computer was beeping, showing that he had found an item of importance. "Ziva, come look at this! I found something." She sat down next to him and gazed fixedly at the screen.

"Look, he's got a past record of attempted kidnapping as well, earning him a restraining order as well." He said, feeling a small hopeful feeling bubbling in his chest.

Ziva looked up from the picture on the screen and smiled grimly at McGee. "Let's get Gibbs."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

While the rest of his team had been searching for information about the kidnappers, Christy was sitting in the interrogation room, while Gibbs watched her through the two-way mirror to see her reaction to her children's disappearance. For the first hour she had cried on and off, but now she sat still and stared down at her bottle of water as if she was simply sleeping with her eyes open. So far her reaction had seemed genuine, but he still felt as if she was hiding something from him.

The door opened and Ziva and McGee walked into the room where Gibbs stood. He turned to them hopefully, wondering if they had news about Abby and the others. He betrayed no facial emotion to them though, preferring to keep it to himself.

Ziva hurried up to Gibbs and showed him a file folder, hastily telling him what they had found. Gibbs nodded his thanks and left the room quickly, only to reappear on the other side of the mirror with Christy.

She stood up the minute Gibbs walked in, looking exhausted and anxious.

"Agent Gibbs, any word?"

"Not yet, but we're still looking." he said, motioning for her to sit once more. She obeyed.

"Agent Gibbs," Christy began in a frustrated tone, "why am I still here? I should be out there looking for my children. I already identified Wesley for you, so what more can I do?"

Gibbs pulled out the file folder and handed it to her. "You can help by telling us about this man."

Christy opened the folder and began to scan the page. Gibbs watched as her eyes grew wide and hateful. She faced him once more.

"I don't understand…"

"Nathan Corter, forty-nine years old, father of Kelly and Jacob-"

"Yes, I know that!" she snapped, still glaring pointedly at Gibbs. "I meant what does he have to do with my children?"

Gibbs leaned forward and rested his arms on the table. "We were hoping you could tell us."

Comprehension dawned on her face. "You think Nate had something to do with my children's kidnapping?" The hate flared in her eyes some more as she accused, "And you think that I had something to do with this? I love my children!"

"I have no doubt that you do." Gibbs said calmly. "We weren't accusing. We just want to know what happened to both your children and my people. So what can you tell us about your ex-husband?"

"He's a bastard." She said quickly, sitting up taller in her seat. "We were married for two years, one of those years with Kelly and Jacob. He had always been rather quiet and reserved around me before they were born, but after…" her voice lowered slightly as if he could hear her, "After the twins were born, he started to travel more, and hardly spoke to me or the kids while he was gone. When he was home, he would continually yell at the kids when they'd cry, even though they were just infants! Once he slapped Jacob so hard when he screamed that he almost knocked him unconscious. That's when I threw him out of the house. It wasn't easy, though."

Christy rolled up a sleeve and showed her arm to Gibbs. He grabbed her wrist gently and looked closer. Right below her elbow was a two-inch-long white scar which seemed to glow on her tan skin. He let go of her wrist and she pulled her sleeve back down.

"He tried to stab my stomach but I blocked it, sort of. Two weeks later, while I was shopping in a supermarket with the twins, he tried to kidnap them while I was looking for fruit. He would have succeeded too if there hadn't have been two cops stopping for coffee right next door. That's when the restraining order was filed against him. I haven't seen him since."

She slumped back in her chair and wiped away a stray tear from her cheek. "I thought after that that I could keep them safe. I moved, installed all kinds of home security programs, hell, I even had both of the kids fingerprinted in case they ever were taken again."

Gibbs nodded, understanding now why Jacob's fingerprints were in the system. He looked Christy directly in the eye and said, "I promise you, my team and I will do everything possible to bring your children home to you safely."

She hiccupped and stared back at him. "Your people, the two who were taken with my babies, will they take care of Jacob and Kelly?"

"They're good people and excellent agents." He said, deciding it was best not to tell Christy that Abby was a lab tech, though he silently thought that Abby was just as tough as any agent he had. He stood up as Christy nodded and turned to leave the room. As he reached the door, he turned and faced her once more.

"Is there any feature that your ex has that could help us find him?"

She thought quietly for a second and then said, "Well, he is rather tall, around six feet tall, and…oh! He has a tattoo on his left shoulder. A tattoo of a snake."