Chapter 10: The Rescue

Warning: Character death.

Challenge: #3064 'conception by conspiracy *non-stargate*' by shelli.

Thanks to my betas: AerynSpeedleCaine and AshDawnSoulmates.

Disclaimer: BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. NCIS characters belong to Donald Bellisario, Don McGill and CBS Paramount Television. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

Previously…

"Oh, it's not what I want, but she is my ticket for bigger things," Ari corrected him. Feeling another twinge in his shoulder, he added, "Knowing that it will hurt you is a nice bonus for me. Goodbye, Jethro."

The phone went silent, but Gibbs still screamed at it, "Ari! Ari!"

Just because she couldn't carry/drag Ari over to the chair to restrain him, didn't mean that tying him up where he was wasn't possible. Once the pain subsided, she grabbed a lamp cord and yanked it from the base of the lamp. When she looked up, Ari was staring at her coldly, a gun aimed in her direction again.

Gibbs' home

Gibbs quickly called Joyce to see if Buffy was home. He certainly wasn't going to believe Ari without something to corroborate it. "Has Buffy come home, or have you talked to her in the last few minutes?" he demanded as soon as she answered.

His tone caused Joyce's stomach to clench. So much for the happy feeling she had from the previous call. "No. Why? Has something happened?" Joyce asked worriedly.

He considered for less than a second not telling her, but realized that she deserved to know. "I got a call from somebody claiming to have her," he admitted with a heavy heart, waiting for her to blame him. If he had just been there to go with Buffy to the doctor-

Giles interrupted his thoughts from another extension, "Then we should call Mulder."

Startled by the suggestion, Gibbs asked, "Why?"

"Because he can track her whereabouts," Giles answered, anger simmering right under the surface that somebody – somebody human – would dare harm his Slayer.

Joyce was audibly relieved by the reminder, before she realized that Gibbs wouldn't understand. "See, his shower gift to her and the baby…those ankle bracelets? Those have tracking devices in them – in case something like this were to ever happen," she explained.

Part of him was thrilled at the news, but the other part was hurt. "He knew about Buffy before I did?" Gibbs whispered hoarsely.

Giles heard the pain in the other man's voice. Even though he was angry that Gibbs had hurt Buffy with his distance the past few weeks, Giles knew that Buffy would forgive him, so he reassured the NCIS agent, "He knew about Buffy before we even met him."

"Can we worry about this after we've got my baby and grandbaby back?" Joyce interjected impatiently.

Tamping down his relief that Mulder's inclusion wasn't anything against him, Gibbs agreed, "You're right; now isn't the time. We have to hurry; I got the impression that he grabbed her on somebody else's orders."

Willow's voice screamed in the background, "Leo!"

"What about Law Enforcement Officers?" Gibbs asked, his confusion clear.

He must have been put on speakerphone, because Tara's voice answered in the background, "Umm, what Willow meant was why don't we ask one of the other candidates, Leo, for help. He'd be even faster at finding Buffy than tracking the bracelets."

"That's a good idea." Giles paused for a moment, then inquired, "Gibbs, are you alone over there?"

Gibbs was still trying to figure out how this Leo guy worked into the situation, but he said distractedly, "My dad is upstairs taking a nap. Why?"

"Because unless he knows about the supernatural, Leo will have to be careful when he and I come to your house," Giles replied. His answer had Gibbs even more confused; Leo was supernatural?

"You're not coming with to get her," Gibbs growled.

Giles – or possibly Ripper at this point – growled right back, "You can't stop me, and believe me, Leo and I could get to her faster than you could, even if she were in your basement."

As much as he wanted to yell at the man, Gibbs knew that getting to Buffy was more important right now. "You follow my lead then. I know the bastard who has her, and he's dangerous."

Rubbing his arm where Joyce hit him in annoyance for having a pissing match with the father of her grandchild, Giles said, "Agreed. Get ready for us. If Leo's available, we should be there in less than a couple minutes."

"Bring her home safe," Joyce pleaded with both men.

As he dialed DiNozzo, Gibbs jotted out a note for his father, telling him what was going on, and wrote Joyce's number on the paper. When DiNozzo answered, Gibbs explained the situation, ordered the team to get ready for a rescue attempt, and to get a hold of Mulder for the location Buffy was being held at.

It wasn't that he didn't trust Giles and Joyce to want what was best for Buffy and the baby, but he didn't know the person they wanted to use; he did know his team and would trust them with his life. Besides, having back-up was always a good idea. Speaking of which, he grabbed his sidearm and made sure it was loaded.

He had just hung up when he caught motion out of the corner of his eye. Bringing up his gun, he almost shot the intruders as they changed from a swirl of blue lights into solid form. It was only the soft voice of Buffy in the back of his head that reminded him of her life and the fact it included magick which kept him from pulling the trigger. Seeing Giles' face made him glad he listened to that voice. Killing her best friend would probably make any attempt to get her to forgive him worthless.

"Thank you for not shooting us," Giles remarked wryly, mentally cursing himself for not warning Gibbs how they'd arrive. "Leo, this is the father of Buffy's baby, Jethro Gibbs; Gibbs, this is one of the other candidates, Leo Wyatt. Leo has a couple special abilities that can potentially help us. Before we left the house, Mulder was able to give us the address where she's being held," he said, handing over a piece of paper with the information.

While Gibbs called his team to pass it along, Leo explained to both of them, "Since we don't know if the guy holding her has knowledge of the supernatural, we thought it would be safer if we orbed in away from where she's probably being held. If she were one of my charges, I'd be able to pinpoint her location, but I can only estimate – unless she happens to call for me. I would rather not orb right into the room with her and her captor because if he's startled, he might start shooting and hit her."

"That's fine; just get me there and I'll take care of Ari. You two get Buffy out of danger," Gibbs ordered, death in his eyes. He hadn't been exaggerating when he threatened Ari before. If Buffy was even uncomfortable, the Mossad agent would end up in Ducky's morgue…politics be damned!

Ari's hideout

Despite Leo's warning, Gibbs was still caught off-guard at the weird feeling in his stomach from orbing. Giles fared slightly better because of his previous experiences with the alternative method of transportation. When he saw where they were, Gibbs growled angrily. This was the place that Ari took Kate when he grabbed her and explained that he was a Mossad officer trying to infiltrate Hamas. He knew the address seemed familiar.

They were slowly making their way to the farmhouse when they heard Buffy cry out. Something snapped in Gibbs' mind and he raced forward. While his logical side was determining the best way to get inside, his emotional side traveled a different path.

He already realized that he wanted a future with Buffy, but when he found out that Ari had grabbed her, it went from 'certain' to 'written in John Deere Green' – to quote a country song by Joe Diffie from a few years back. A song he'd deny ever knowing if asked.

Quietly racing into the main living room, Gibbs saw a scene that made his heart freeze, but fortunately, not the rest of him. Buffy was standing there with a lamp in one hand and the cord for it in the other. Several feet away, Ari was pointing a gun at her. Specifically at her stomach.

The same red mist of rage that took over when he found the drug dealer that killed his family years ago came back with a vengeance. Later, Gibbs couldn't even be sure he ever said anything to alert Ari to his presence. One shot to the heart and one shot to the head; no way was that bastard going to walk away again.

Ari's last thought was wondering if maybe he shouldn't have called Gibbs to taunt him. Well, it would have been if the bullet to the brain hadn't cut it off in mid-thought.

Meanwhile, Giles and Leo orbed over to Buffy's side to protect her, forgetting the danger they had put themselves in. Buffy remembered, though. Before he could swing the gun in their direction, Buffy screamed at the top of her lungs, "Gibbs!"

Fortunately, using his last name was enough to snap him out of the haze. He lowered his gun slightly and started looking for other threats in the house. When he saw that it was clear, he came back to the living room to see if Buffy was okay, practically pushing Leo out of the way to get to her. "Are you alright, sweetheart?" he asked, looking for any signs of injury.

Buffy couldn't hide the smile at his words. It almost made getting kidnapped worth it. "Sweetheart? I take it this means you've forgiven me?" she teased hopefully.

"Actually, I was going to cook you dinner tonight to ask you to forgive me," Gibbs admitted sheepishly, running his hands gently over her face as he allowed himself to breathe again. "My father smacked some sense into me, figuratively speaking. Although, he probably would have done it literally if he'd been feeling better."

"You have a dad? I mean, obviously you have a dad; I just didn't realize he was alive. You said he wasn't feeling good; is it serious? Is your mom still alive?" Buffy babbled.

"As amusing as it is to listen to you two yammer at each other, I think we should probably get Buffy to the hospital," Leo interjected with a slight smirk. "She may not be ready to deliver yet, but they should at least check her out," he said, referring to Buffy having contractions before they arrived; something she mentioned while Gibbs was securing the house.

"Oh! We can't leave yet!" Buffy cried out, tearing her eyes away from Jethro's face.

Giles felt like shaking the young woman in exasperation. "Why on earth not?"

Turning to look at her Watcher, Buffy explained, "Because the people who hired Ari to grab me are on their way here. Unless we want to worry about them forever, we should capture them and force them to tell us who else is involved."

"How do you plan to do that?" Gibbs asked.

She explained her idea, asking them to go along with it – especially the pacifist Leo. Which he did…reluctantly. The only reason he did was because she promised it was just a bluff.

Leo added to the plan, explaining that he could change his appearance to look like Ari. As much as Gibbs hated seeing that face again, he agreed that whoever was coming would probably be more likely to talk to a co-conspirator than them.

Still frustrated, Giles gave Buffy his best glare. "Fine! But if it takes too long, or you start to have too many contractions, you're going straight to the hospital…understand?" Buffy nodded her agreement, her expression one of bemusement.

Gibbs silently thanked the man for saying what he didn't think he'd get away with at the moment, especially given that he still hadn't properly apologized to Buffy yet.

A/N: Next…The Takedown.