A/N - Okay, so I've been struggling with this chapter for the last few days and have decided to post it as is. Constructive reviews (and all others) appreciated.

Thanks again for the support for this story.

Disclaimer in Chapter 1

Chapter 11

"No!" The screeched words from Abby pulled Eric abruptly from his sleep. Not quite knowing where he was, he ended up crashing to the floor, tangled in the blanket and mere inches away from busting his head open on the corner of the table.

Abby came running out at the sound.

"Eric?" she asked, looking strangely at him as he laid on the floor trying to get his breathing under control. His glasses were crooked, which he eventually worked out was the cause of Abby's strange look.

"You okay?" she asked as she reached a hand down to help him up. He took it gratefully and stood, only to fall back on the couch when his feet couldn't get out of the blanket. He decided to stay put for the moment and looked at Abby.

"What did you find?"

Abby frowned. "Nothing good. I still don't think McGee did this," she said.

Eric looked at her in confusion. "I thought that we thought they didn't already. The hack."

Abby turned to him, a look which could be despair on her face, but he wasn't sure.

"I traced the hack and the IP address it came from. Turns out it was McGee's home computer."

"Oh," Eric muttered. This wasn't good. They thought they had something to clear NCIS involvement. If they had've, it would have meant so many more resources.

He looked up at Abby, about to ask her more, when her phone rang.

"Hey honey," Abby said cheerfully.

"Hey," Gibbs said. "Anything?"

"Nothing good," Abby replied.

"Still looks like what it did before?" Gibbs asked cryptically.

"Something like that."

"Call me if you find anything,"

"Bye honey," Abby finished with a grin.

She turned to Eric, "He hates it when I call him honey. It's fun."

Abby turned serious. "What next?"

Eric untangled his feet and stood up, "What if, for arguments sake, we assume that they are involved. Why don't we work again on finding where they sent the files, rather than trying to prove they didn't."

"They're not involved," Abby reiterated firmly, "But I can work with that." She put her hands on Eric's shoulders and steered him to the computer. "You work, I'll get breakfast."

Abby turned and walked away.

"Umm, Abby," Eric said, tentatively.

Abby turned around.

"It's real food right?" he asked. The girl slept in a coffin, apparently anyway. Who knew what she considered breakfast.

"Yep. Bloody Mary, heavy on the blood and -" Abby stopped at the horrified look on Eric's face and laughed.

"Toast, juice and fruit, Eric. I was joking."

"Sorry," Eric grinned slightly in apology.

"To work," Abby reminded him as she turned with a flourish of hands and stepped out of the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~o

Gibbs walked into the bullpen and sat down. He picked up his phone and dialed Abby. It had barely been an hour, but he really needed to know if she'd found anything out yet that would clear up this mess.

"Hey honey," Abby answered cheerfully. He narrowly avoided telling her off for that greeting.

"Hey," he replied, remaining neutral. "Anything?" he asked.

Gibbs saw DiNozzo look over at him, obviously curious.

"Nothing good," Abby replied.

"Still looks like what it did before?" Gibbs asked cryptically.

"Something like that."

"Call me if you find anything," he advised her.

"Bye honey." He wished he'd been quicker hanging up.

"Anything wrong Boss?" Tony asked.

Gibbs turned to him. "Why would anything be wrong DiNozzo?"

"Umm, well. No reason Boss," Tony replied and turned back to his computer.

"You weren't listening in on my call were you?" Gibbs asked.

"Never Boss, you know that," Tony answered quickly. Gibbs controlled himself from commenting further. He turned back to his desk, trying to figure out a legitimate way to get out of the office.

His phone rang, "Gibbs," he answered.

"Jethro, can I have a word?" came Ducky's voice. Perfect.

"On my way," Gibbs replied as he grabbed his things and stood up.

Tony stood up quickly, looking like he was ready to go with him.

"Sit DiNozzo. Paper work," he ordered as he walked out alone.

Tony looked over at McGee, "You think there is something up with Gibbs?"

"Something is always up with Gibbs, Tony."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~o

Nate walked through the doors of OSP headquarters, whistling. He was in a good mood. He'd had a good night last night, gone on a date even. He smiled as he recalled the date that turned into a non-date. A friend had set him up with this girl, Kerry. She was pretty, but there had been absolutely no chemistry, at least in romantic terms. Turned out though, that they had a lot in common and had spent the entire night talking new psychology theories amongst other things. They'd agreed to keep in touch; be friends. He was looking forward to lunch in a couple of days when they were going to meet up again. She was going to bring him a couple of books he hadn't read yet, about some of the topics they'd talked about.

He frowned, an uneasiness settling on him as he looked around at the office. It was too quiet. Callen and Sam weren't bickering good naturedly, or teasing Kensi about her most recent date. Because they weren't here. He glanced at his watch. 10am. That meant they were late, meant he was late. So where was Hetty? Anytime he was late she was always there within seconds giving him a gentle reprimand. Nate knew he got off lightly compared to the rest of the team. He looked at some of the other staff. There was something odd. They were looking at him, not the usual hustle of the morning shift. They actually looked like they didn't know what they were doing.

Nate decided to find Hetty. He headed to her desk. It was empty. He frowned and looked at the hook she always hung her bag on. Empty. The uneasiness he had been feeling increased.

Nate glanced over at some of the other employees, his gaze settling on one whose name came easily to him.

"Aaron, have you see Hetty?" he asked.

"No." Aaron shook his head.

"Anyone seen Hetty?" Nate asked in a slightly louder voice, looking around at the half a dozen employees who were within ear shot. They all shook their heads.

Nate frowned and went to his office. Maybe there was a message on his voice mail. He sat down at his desk and went to pick up the phone, when he noticed a note on his desk. Hetty's hand writing.

He let out small sigh of relief as he picked it up. His relief didn't last long.

.

Nate,

In light of the previous weeks and months events, I have taken the team on a moral boosting outing. Since Dom's unfortunate departure, and the recent revelations regarding Agent Callen, we both know they have been slowly pulling apart. Until they are working together effectively, as we have come to expect with them, the outing will continue. Could you please inform the Director of our absence. Hopefully, it will take no more than a few days.

We will be out of contact, an exercise for them in depending solely on one another.

Thank you. I am confident you will be able to keep the office from falling apart completely until we return or the Director sends someone to assist you.

Regards,

Hetty

.

A few days? Inform the director? Keep the office from falling apart?

Nate pinched himself. Maybe this was just a dream. After all he had been talking with Kerry last night about how realistic dreams could be.

He stood up and went to find Eric, ignoring all the questioning stares he was getting from the other staff members as he moved quickly through to the ops centre.

No Eric. Guess Hetty took him too. Nate almost chuckled at the image of Eric being 'out of contact' or without his computer. Almost. He was too concerned right now. He had to call the Director. If anyone came close to scaring Nate more than Hetty, it was Vance. He went back to his office, closed the door and sat down. He took a deep breath.

You can do this Nate. Hetty believes in you.

He picked up the phone, a sense of dread settling down on him. He wasn't quite sure why. Hetty had given him a reason for the absenses. Problem was, he didn't really believe it. Because surely, as the team psychologist, a moral boosting outing was right up his alley.

Nate shook his head as the sound of dial tone from the phone sunk in. He just had to tell the Director what was in Hetty's note and let him take over.

He dialed and waited.

"Vance," came the terse answer, setting Nate on edge even more. Sounded like this wasn't a good time.

"Director, Nate Getz. OSP."

"What can I do for you Nate?" the Director asked, somewhat impatiently.

"Umm, I have a message from Hetty for you."

"Hetty?" That had gotten the Director's attention.

"Yes, she's taken the team for a moral boosting outing."

"Who?"

"Callen, Sam, Kensi and Eric," Nate replied, that uneasiness coming back and almost taking away the nerves caused by having to make this call.

"Where?"

"I don't know," Nate admitted reluctantly, wishing Hetty had at least given him a general location, even if it was just a state.

"She didn't tell you?"

"No she just left me a note. I don't even know when they left."

"When are they due back?" Vance demanded.

"A few days maybe. She said she's not bringing them back until they are working together properly."

"Thought they worked together quite well."

"Things have been a bit difficult since Dom." Nate didn't want to add that things had gotten even more tense since the Keelson episode. Callen had been preoccupied, he was still his effective self, but Nate had witnessed him going through the box on Amy whenever he had a spare moment. Sam had been worried about his partner's obsession and Kensi had still be feeling slightly guilty that the data warehouse had blown up. They'd talked about it a few times and even though Callen had assured her they were still good, she still felt that things weren't quite right between them.

"Have you tried calling her?"

The Director's question brought Nate out of his musings about the team's current dynamics.

"She said they would be out of contact, I haven't actually tried." Nate felt a bit silly about that. It should have been the first thing he tried.

"So Hetty and the finest team have disappeared? That didn't sound suspicious to you?"

"Well, yes," Nate answered, of course it had. "But Hetty is always full of surprises."

"That she is," Vance agreed. Nate almost heard a chuckle. "Now find them," Vance ordered firmly.

"How?" This wasn't what he did. This was what the team did.

"You have IT experts there."

"I guess."

"Then find them Mr Getz. I expect you to call me back within the hour with results."

Nate heard the call get disconnected before he could say anything more.

Reluctantly, Nate stood up and went in search of one of the other IT experts. They tried everything they could think of.

Calling all the cell phones, the back up phones, home phones. sending text's (nothing detailed of course, just 'Call me'), tracking the GPS signals from their cars.

He sent a team out to check their apartments, just in case they were there. No such luck.

They checked the mission logs, but according to those, the last one was a couple of days ago.

As much as it made him feel guilty, he had one of the IT guys, log into Hetty's email for him. Nothing there either.

Next was the phone logs of all of them. Still nothing.

As a last ditch effort, Nate even went through the wardrobe department records. Hetty was meticulous about keeping records of who had taken what item out, when they had returned it, in what condition and if she was to ever let them have that particular item again. Nothing had been taken out by the team that hadn't been returned.

The hour was up and he had to call Vance. Nate returned to his office and picked up the phone. Trepidation filling him as he dialed the number for the second time today.

"What do you have for me, Nate?" Vance answered, the phone only ringing once before it was picked it up.

"Nothing. We can't find any trace of them or any clue on where she has taken them."

Nate had an odd desire to hold the phone very far away from his ear but refrained.

"So what you are saying is that they are completely off the grid?"

Vance did not sound impressed at all.

"It appears that way," Nate agreed.

Vance was silent.

"Keep me informed," Vance said abruptly then hung up.

Nate stared at the phone and frowned. Informed about what?

He shook his head and sat back in his chair. What was he supposed to do now?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~o

Vance picked up his phone quickly after disconnecting from the good Doctor.

"McGee."

"My office. Now," Vance demanded then hung up and waited, giving McGee no time to question the order.

A couple of minutes later, McGee walked into his office.

"Close the door."

McGee did and stepped over to his desk.

Vance let out an agitated breath and then spoke.

"Agents Callen, Hanna, and Blye, Hetty and Eric have gone off grid. The idiots in L.A. can't find them. You will."

McGee frowned. "Have they given a reason?"

Vance rolled his eyes. "Apparently, Hetty took them on a team morale boosting exercise. But no one in L.A. can find a trace of them."

McGee seemed confused. "And you want me to find them?"

"Yes. Use whatever resources you can and find them. I don't like it when one of our best teams in their entirety disappears."

"Yes Sir."

McGee turned and started to the door. Just as his hand was on the handle, Vance added, "And McGee."

McGee turned. "Yes?

"No one else knows about this, understand?" The Director's tone firm and serious.

McGee nodded. "Understood."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~o

Gibbs came back into the office after his prolonged discussion with Ducky, followed by a trip out to deliver lunch to Abby and Eric, who didn't have anything more for him yet.

"Where's McGee?" Gibbs asked as he saw that McGee wasn't at his desk.

"Director called for him about half an hour ago boss," replied Tony, helpfully.

"For what?" Gibbs asked as he spun around to look at DiNozzo.

"Don't know." Tony frowned. "Is there a problem Boss?"

"Not for you Dinozzo as long as you are working." Gibbs turned and started toward the stairs to the Director's office.

"Absolutely Boss. Doing stuff as we speak." Tony started typing away randomly on his keyboard in the appearance of looking busy.

Gibbs went to Vance's office and walked straight in, without knocking.

"What are you doing with McGee?" he demanded.

"I need him on something. You have a problem with that?" Vance answered calmly.

Gibbs' eyes narrowed. "Yeah, he's part of my team. I need him in the lab today. Abby's off sick."

Vance wasn't moved. "He is in MTAC, working on something,"

"I want him back," Gibbs demanded.

"When he's done." Vance's tone was a serious one that most other Agents wouldn't argue with. But not Gibbs

"Now," Gibbs added firmly.

"When he's done," Vance repeated.

Gibbs shook his head. "We'll see." Then Gibbs turned and walked out, heading straight to MTAC.

Vance followed, walking in behind him.

"Gibbs, I need him on this. You'll have him back when he's finished. That's an order."

Gibbs glared at Vance and then turned to McGee, who was staring up at the two of them, a slightly apprehensive look on his face.

"McGee," said Gibbs, "In the lab, half an hour. Or considered yourself reassigned to the Director's personal team."

Gibbs turned and walked out.

Vance looked down at McGee.

"You know what to do McGee. You have your orders."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~o

A/N - so, Good? Bad? Other? Thanks for reading.