Eleven

As it turned out nightmares wouldn't be an issue that evening, Gibbs was woken out of a light sleep by the sound of Jack's phone ringing on her bedside table. He felt Jack shift against his chest where she had curled into a ball, one hand gripping the fabric of his shirt her head forehead resting against his chest. She rolled over with a small groan and blindly reached around for her phone. She squinted at the bright display and slid her finger across the screen before putting her phone to her ear.

"Hi, Baby." She muttered, clearing her throat. "What's going on? Why are you still up?" She asked, her voice more clear. "No… No he's not with me."

Gibbs pushed himself up on his arm to look down at her, she gestured to his eyes to warn him before she sat up and flicked on the lamp.

"No, he's not with Gibbs either, no, we're… Watching a movie." She said looking at Gibbs with a small shrug, "Okay well don't panic, I'll give Grace and Tobias a call and see if he's with them and then I'll give you a call back okay." Her voice was calm but her eyes were panicked as she looked over at Gibbs, "Just do me a favour and go make sure the door is locked okay? Yeah everything is fine, Babe, where's Jared? Okay I'll call you back in a minute." She listened for another minute before nodding, "Okay, I love you."

Gibbs raised an eyebrow at her as she looked over at him.

"That was Kayla, Leon never came home." She said, her voice shaking, "You don't think…"

"Don't go there." He ordered, "Like you said, don't panic he could be with Grace or Fornell, you call Grace and I'll call Tobias."

He grabbed his cell phone off of the bedside table and dialled Fornell's number, he could tell by the look on Jack's face that she was having just about as much luck as he was. He hung up the phone with a sigh and looked over at her as she did the same.

"He's not with Grace, did you have any luck with Tobias?"

"Nope." He replied, running his hand over his face, "Has anyone tried his office?"

"Kayla called his office, his assistant and his cell phone." Jack responded, "Grace offered to meet us at NCIS, lend a hand with whatever she can."

"Tobias said the same, I'm gonna call Bishop and have her come in to put a trace on Leon's cell phone." Gibbs stated, "We'll pick up the kids and bring them in with us, just in case."

"Gibbs, do you think Hakim got him?" She asked quietly.

"I'm not goin' there." Gibbs replied firmly, "Not yet, right now we're going to look for him, I'm calling Bishop right now."

"Why not McGee?" Jack asked.

"I'll call McGee if we need him, right now I don't want to panic anyone, Bishop can ping a phone just as good as McGee." Gibbs replied, "Go change."

N*C*I*S

She nodded and swung her legs out of bed, her mind racing a million miles a minute. She listened to Gibbs explain the situation to Bishop as she grabbed a pair of jeans and a sweater, she disappeared into the bathroom and when she came back out Gibbs was doing up the last button on his shirt and pulling on socks.

"Ellie's going to pick up the kids, her place is closer, she'll meet us at the Yard, Grace and Tobias are on their way." Gibbs stated, "I called Kayla and let her know what was goin' on, told her to pack a bag just in case they need to spend the night at my place."

She nodded and grabbed her phone off of the side table, she followed Gibbs out of her room and downstairs, they quickly pulled their shoes on and made their way out to Gibbs' sedan.

The car ride to NCIS was silent, Jack was silently praying that Leon was okay, that it was all a misunderstanding. Judging by the concerned glances Gibbs was shooting her way he was just as worried as she was.

N*C*I*S

Gibbs watched her perch on the edge of his desk her back turned to him as her eyes scanned the empty bullpen vacantly. She had been silent the entire ride to the Navy Yard and hadn't said a word once they had exited the car. He could tell that she was worried about Vance, they all were, he watched her turn around and bite her thumb as her eyes landed on Elena's drawing taped behind his desk.

"How many more kids?" She whispered, "How many more kids have to lose their parents?" She asked before turning back around.

He sighed and stood up. He made has way around the desk and stepped behind her when she stepped forward, he leaned against the desk and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Nobody is losing anyone." He whispered, gently squeezing her shoulders.

She leaned back against him and raised her hand to rest over his on one of her shoulders.

"We don't know anything yet, and we need to stay positive for the kids." He added quietly.

"I know." She muttered, tilting her head back and closing her eyes, "I know but I'll feel better when they're here and safe."

"Yeah." He agreed quietly, "Me too."

He had known Kayla and Jared for almost ten years, he had spent time with them occasionally while Jackie Vance was still alive but he had gotten closer to them after she had passed, when Leon had needed him more to get through the tragedy. He, much like Jack, needed to know they were safe before they could worry about Leon. He wouldn't say it to Jack but he had a bad feeling that Hakim was involved in Leon's sudden disappearance and he had no doubt that the man would hurt the kids if he thought it would make Leon cooperate with whatever he had in mind.

He ran his thumb over the nape of Jack's neck, the scent of her lavender shampoo wafting up from her still damp hair, in an effort to relax her. He was just grateful that she was standing still, that she wasn't pacing or worse yet painting in her agitation and worry. He rested his chin on her hand where it still rested on top of his.

She stepped away from him when the elevator dinged, he had to take a deep breath as he adjusted to her absence and pushed himself off of the desk.

"What the hell is going on?" Tobias Fornell asked as he rounded the corner into the bullpen, followed closely by Doctor Grace Confalone.

"We haven't heard from Leon since earlier this evening, we got a call from Kayla half an hour ago that he hadn't come home yet." Jack explained, "She's been trying his cell every couple of minutes but so far no answer."

"Do you have any idea what happened?" Grace asked.

"Oh yeah, I have a good idea." Jack stated bitterly.

"Jack…" Gibbs warned, "We're not going there, not yet."

He was already there, his gut was telling him that Jack was right but he refused to let her fly off the handle before they had solid proof.

"Where's your team?" Fornell asked.

"Bishop is on her way now, she's picking up Kayla and Jared and bringing them in." Gibbs replied, "I'll call McGee and Torres if we can't find anything, we're not panicking yet."

"Okay well what can we do?" Grace asked.

"When they get here you can keep the kids busy." Gibbs replied, "the less they know right now the better."

Gibbs watched out of the corner of his eye as Jack ran her hand through her hair and sighed, he could see her getting more agitated, could tell she was teetering on the edge of losing it again. He listened as Tobias and Grace debated different ideas of where Leon could be as Jack began to pace. He didn't know how to help her, not without attracting more attention to her. He stepped in her path and placed his hands on her shoulders, looking down at her he raised an eyebrow.

"Tell me what you need." He whispered.

"I need to do something." She muttered her hands twitching, "I can't just stand here."

"Okay." He replied, "I get that, but right now we just gotta wait."

He heaved a sigh of relief as the elevator doors opened with a ding, he gave Jack's shoulders a squeeze as she turned to it.

"Oh thank God." She whispered.

He could see the change in her as soon as she saw Kayla and Jared step off of the elevator, clearly safe and untouched. It was like seeing a completely different person as she walked over to them and pulled them both into her arms. It was like seeing the old Jack, the Jack who had helped him care for Elena, the Jack who had shown up at his door ten months ago. He opened his arms as Kayla walked up to him and wrapped the eighteen year old in a hug.

"Something bad happened, Gibbs…" She whispered, quietly enough that only he heard her, "I can see it on Aunt Jack's face."

"We don't know anything yet, but we're gonna find him." He promised.

He pulled back and gave her a small nod, she gave him a sad smile in response, willingly accepting his promise. He clapped his hand on Jared's shoulder, silently amazed at how much the sixteen year old had grown in the short time since he had last seen him. He could tell the boy was struggling to keep it together but he had plastered a brave smile on his face and nodded a greeting to Gibbs.

"Kayla why don't you and Jared go with Grace up to the conference room, " Gibbs suggested, "Your Aunt and I will come up in a minute okay?"

"Gibbs I want to know what's going on." Kayla protested.

"And you will." Jack replied, her tone more firm than Gibbs' had been, "we're going to let you know everything we know in a few minutes but right now we need a minute so go to the conference room with Grace and we'll be up in less than ten minutes." She promised, her voice softening, "I know you're scared, and I know this is hard but I promise we're doing everything in our power to find your dad, okay?"

"Alright." Kayla replied with a small sigh, "just please, don't take too long."

"We won't." Gibbs promised.

He waited for the small group to disappear upstairs before turning to Bishop who was already working at her desk.

"Anything?" He asked, circling the desk to stand behind her.

"Not yet, give me a minute…. Got it!" She exclaimed, "His cell phone is pinging off a tower near the airfield where Nigel Hakim actually took off from."

"He didn't know that the original flight plan was a diversion." Jack stated, "and no one contacted him, there's no way he knew about that Gibbs, now can you take me seriously?"

"I was never not taking you seriously, Jack, just didn't wanna panic until we knew for sure."

"Well can we panic now?" She asked incredulously.

"No." He replied firmly, "No one is panicking, Bishop, call McGee and Torres have them meet you at the airfield see what you can find."

"Are you coming, Gibbs?" Ellie asked.

He looked over at Jack who was once again biting her thumb and pacing and then up to the conference room where the kids had disappeared to. He wanted to go with Ellie, wanted to do everything in his power to help find Leon but he knew that he was needed there more than out in the field. His agents were more than capable of handling things on their own but Jack and the kids all needed him.

"No, you guys can handle it, get Tobias set up on the computer, he can watch to make sure the phone doesn't move until Kasie gets here."

If he got caught giving a civilian access to a government computer he was in deep trouble but at that point he didn't have a whole lot of options, Jack was out of the question and he didn't want his team shorthanded in the field, Nigel Hakim had proven exactly how dangerous he was and Gibbs doubted he was acting alone.

"Tobias call them if anything changes, Jack and I'll be upstairs if you need anything."

He watched Bishop grab her gear and take off before he placed his hand on Jack's back to lead her upstairs. He could see her pulling herself together again as they entered the conference room when Grace had set the kids up with snacks.

"Did you find anything out?" Kayla asked as soon as they entered the room.

"We tracked his phone to an airfield, Gibbs' team is checking it out now." Jack replied, "we'll know more in about half an hour."

"So we just have to keep waiting?" Jared asked.

"Unfortunately that's all we can do right now." Jack replied sympathetically.

"Do we have to stay here?" Kayla asked, gesturing around the room, "no offence but this orange gives me a headache."

"It gives everyone a headache." Jack replied, rolling her eyes.

"You don't have to stay here." Gibbs started, "but until we know for sure what's going on with your dad I want you two to stay at my place."

"Just as an extra precaution." Jack added.

"Are you going to be there, Aunt Jack?" Kayla asked, looking between Gibbs and Jack.

Gibbs shrugged and nodded when Jack glanced over at him, he was more than happy to have an extra set of hands with two teenagers in the house.

"I'll be there." Jack promised, "did you pack a bag before Ellie picked you up?"

"Yeah, she told us to pack enough for today and tomorrow." Jared replied.

"Okay, well Gibbs' team is out doing their thing to find your dad so we may as well head on over to Gibbs' place, sound good?" Jack asked, trying to keep her voice upbeat.

Gibbs watched the kids nod and stand up, he glanced over at Jack who had a smile on her face but he could see the tenseness in her shoulders and the worry in her eyes. He held the door open and let the kids through first, he gave Jack's shoulder a squeeze as she walked past and she gave him a sad smile and a small nod in response.

The ride back to his house was silent, the only break was when they stopped for Jack to grab her go-bag from her house. He pulled into the driveway and was almost amazed that they had gone the entire fifteen minute job in complete silence, Jared was a relatively silent person but Jack and Kayla were normally talkers. The exhaustion and tension in the car was almost palpable.

He unlocked the front door and let everyone in before locking the door behind them, when he turned around he could see Kayla and Jared looking around, at a loss for how to proceed. Thinking back he couldn't remember a time Kayla and Jared had actually spent an extended period of time in his house, he actually couldn't remember them ever going further than the living room or maybe the kitchen. He had always gone to Leon's house to spend time with them.

"So I have to go up and make the beds but you'll both have your own rooms." Gibbs stated, "food is in the kitchen, might have to do groceries tomorrow but whatever's there is fair game, if you wanna have a shower or bath there's a bathroom upstairs and down here."

"Do you guys want to go right to bed or do you want to do something first?" Jack asked.

It was already past midnight but Gibbs seriously doubted anyone would be able to sleep anyway, he was willing to put on a movie, if they could find one on TV, if it would help the kids and Jack unwind a bit.

"I think I want to be alone for a bit." Jared stated quietly.

"Of course, what about you Kayla?"

"I think if it's okay I'd like to take a shower more than anything." She replied, "I just got home from work when I called you, I didn't have time to change or shower."

"I'll get you some towels." Gibbs offered, "I'll make up your bed while you're in the shower."

"I can make it if you show me where everything is."

"I got it." He replied, "you just go take a shower and relax a bit."

Jack watched Gibbs lead Kayla up the stairs, she turned to Jared and gave him a sad smile before reaching out to squeeze his forearm.

"We're going to find him." She promised quietly, "come on, I'll show you up to the guest room."

She had spent many nights in Gibbs' guest room but she always smiled when she walked in, she couldn't help it really. It was relatively plain like every other room in the house but there were little personal touches added by his team over the years, there was a stack of classic movies that she suspected belonged to Tony DiNozzo, an agent she had heard a lot about but had never met. There were a few cozy looking blankets thrown on the bed that she suspected belonged to Ellie as well as an old laptop sitting on the desk that probably belonged to either Tim or Abby. There were a few framed photos of the team from over the years scattered around the room, it wasn't anything big or fancy but it was their room none the less.

"I think that drawer there is empty." She stated, pointing to the top drawer of the dresser, "If you need anything let Gibbs or I know, we'll be downstairs, your bed is already made up and the bathroom is just down the hall."

She had made up the spare bed and changed the sheets before she had left the week before. She made sure Jared was alright before heading back downstairs. She wandered into the kitchen and grabbed herself a glass of water. She was just closing the fridge door when she heard Gibbs come into the kitchen, she turned around to find him leaning against the counter watching her.

"Hope you don't mind." She muttered holding up the water.

"Never minded before." He pointed out, "make yourself at home, you know where everything is."

"Yeah." She nodded, "I noticed the fridge is almost empty again, you haven't done groceries since I left?"

"No reason to." He shrugged, "I have what I need but I'll do groceries in the morning."

She peeked past him to make sure the kids weren't around before turning back to him.

"How long?" She asked quietly.

"How long what?"

"How long do you think we'll be doing this?" She gestured towards the top floor where they could hear the shower running.

"Until we find Leon or know that they're not in danger." He replied slowly.

"Leon has a sister who lives in Maine but she's in Dubai for work." Jack stated, "Jackie had a brother but I don't think he'd be the best fit to take them."

"I know him." Gibbs replied, "don't want them going anywhere for now, not until we know more."

"Come on Gibbs." She said with a sigh, "I think we all know what happened, now it's just a matter of what happens next."

"What happens next is that we work until we find him." He replied firmly.

He pushed himself off of the wall and walked towards her and placed his hands on her shoulders, he rubbed them up and down for a minute.

"We are going to find him." He repeated, "and when we do you can do whatever you need to and when we're alone I don't care if you scream, or cry or hit me but right now you gotta get it together Jack, you gotta keep it together for them."

He wasn't reprimanding her, he wasn't saying she was weak or telling her what she was feeling was wrong, he was simply making sure she understood that they needed to keep it together for the kids.

"Kids come first." She agreed quietly, "I'll get it together, I promise."

"Kay." He whispered, "Kayla is taking a shower and Jared is in his room, what do you need right now?"

"Right now I need to sit down and process everything before Kayla comes back downstairs with more questions than I have answers for." She replied, "And I need to grab a sweater out of my bag, I'm freezing."

"I'll start a fire." He said with a small chuckle.

N*C*I*S

Jack rested her head against the arm of the couch and let the warmth from the fire wash over her, Kayla had just gone up to bed after spending an hour asking impossible to answer questions. She was laying on the couch, her head resting on the arm, Gibbs was on the other end of the couch with her feet tucked under his thigh.

"Well that was fun." She muttered, throwing her arm over her eyes.

"Yup." Gibbs replied, letting his head loll back against the back of the couch, "you think she'll actually sleep tonight?"

"It's after three am, I doubt it." Jack replied, "We're going to need to figure out a security detail if she's going to insist on going to school Monday."

"I'll find some agents." Gibbs replied.

Jack was in awe of the strength Kayla showed, she had insisted on returning to school Monday morning regardless of what happened. She insisted that her father wouldn't want her to spend her life hiding, that life went on. She knew how Leon had raised his children, she admired his parenting but she wished that Kayla would take a bit more time to process everything.

She lifted her arm when Gibbs' cell phone started to ring on the coffee table, she watched him answer it and felt her heart sink as she listened to his side of the conversation. She waited until he had hung up before sitting up on the couch. She watched him run his hand over his face before turning to face her, she dropped her head when he shook his head slightly.

"No witnesses but security tapes show them loading Leon onto the plane, we tracked down the flight plan but they changed it mid flight, we're not sure where they are but we're working on it." He stated.

"Oh my god." She muttered.

She had known what had happened from the moment Kayla had called to tell her that Leon hadn't come home but a small part of her had hoped that she was wrong. Hearing Gibbs say it out loud proved that she wasn't wrong at all.

She felt Gibbs hand fall to her knee and she looked over at him, she could see the sadness and worry in his eyes, she could see him fighting the urge to react in someway, she could see how strong he was trying to be for her.

"Go back in." She said quietly, "not doing anything is killing you."

"I am doing something." He replied, "the team knows what they're doin', you and the kids need me here."

N*C*I*S

Jack wasn't wrong, not being out in the field and actively looking for Leon was killing him but he trusted his team, he knew they could handle it. Jack and the kids needed him at home and he would never forgive himself if something happened to Kayla or Jared, he needed to believe that Leon would come home and he wanted to make sure he had a family to come home to.

And so it begins…. This is not at all where I thought this story was going to go when I started it close to a year ago, it took a lot of unexpected turns but I'm really enjoying it so far! I love to hear from all of you and I absolutely love how amazing this fandom is! Please remember that I don't own anything! I also took some liberties with Kayla and Jared because we know very little about Kayla and absolutely nothing about Jared so I'm working with what I've got and building on it… I have to assume that with how close Jack and Leon are that she would also be close to his kids so I threw in the Aunt thing for fun just to add another dynamic to it..

~Katie