Disclaimer: I do not own...

Author's Note: Sorry for the wait. Thanks to lilypadandprongs4eva for betaing as always. Enjoy!Chapter Twelve

'McGee!'

Tony and Ziva were hopelessly calling their missing teammates name, though to no avail. They were confident in their assumption that he too, had time travelled, though to when and where… Well, there they were clueless and that was making them in equal parts both frustrated and anxious.

And in severe need of coffee, though Tony kept that thought to himself, lest he incite further comments about his need to be Gibbs.

'Come on! We have to search for him.' Ziva grabbed Tony's hand to pull him from the room, the urgency she felt leading to her almost dragging him behind her as he yelped. She kept to the walls as they crept down corridors, making sure to double check around turns. Tony followed her lead, and though it was probably unprofessional, only held on tighter to her hand when she went to loosen her grip. His other hand was proficient enough to handle pointing the gun.

There were others in the corridors now, having now been roused by the cabin staff. They were all complaining about the rudeness of being awakened for a drill at this time of night. The partners quickly stowed away their weapons, attempting to blend in with the crowd. While Ziva barged through, Tony attempted to placate the ruffled feathers left behind her warpath.

'Hey, how all you folks doing?' He greeted, as he was sped along. 'Nice night for it… ow, Ziva, watch it will you? Sorry everyone!" Tony shouted. "Women, can't live with 'em…can't live without- ow!' Having just turned a corner and were finally out of the passenger-filled hallway, though his voice still echoed, Ziva spun around and slammed Tony against the wall.

'What are you doing?" She hissed. "Have you lost your mind? Do you even have the slightest understanding of what subtlety is?'

"Rule 27." Tony huffed. "There's two ways to follow. Either they don't notice you, or they only notice you."

"In case you haven't realised DiNozzo, we aren't following anyone! We are trying to hide!"

"In case you haven't noticed Officer David, you were drawing even more attention that I was by running into everyone. I was just trying to stop them from reporting you to authorities and getting you arrested for assault!" Though their tones were aggressive, neither of them tried to pull away their still joined hands. They left their staring with the unspoken decision of an impasse, with neither giving ground. They kept walking, though slightly calmer now, having released some pent up energy into arguing.

Once on deck, Ziva and Tony spotted the suspects' search for them. They quickly ducked behind a group of first class passengers, who were loudly complaining about the rude awaking and being forced up on deck in the middle of the night. Tony and Ziva stood still and watched the suspects search for them in vain. In the process of moving, Ziva let go of Tony's hand. There was no sign of McGee.

The grumbling passengers noticed them, one deciding to include them in conversation. 'Say, you two, what do you think of this ridiculous drill? I will surely have something to say to the person in charge here tomorrow, you mark my words.' Ziva looked at the passengers.

'Perhaps this is not a drill.' She whispered it so quietly they could barely hear her. She and Tony walked away, leaving bemused passengers behind them.

In a deserted hallway, giving them privacy once more, she turned to Tony. 'Now what? Where should we look?'

He considered it for a second then replied. 'The stern deck.' Seeing her confusion over his seemingly random choice, he elaborated further. 'Where I appeared.'

'Of course! Perhaps it is some sort of gateway there…' Grabbing his hand again, Ziva tugged him towards the stern. Even as Tony was worrying for his friend and still finding the idea of time travelling gateways somewhat incredulous, he found some part of himself wishing for a long search to find him. If only for an excuse to continue holding Ziva's hand.

'So, we are here. There is not sign of McGee.' Ziva asked once they had reached the stern of the ship. They had found it to be deserted. There was no sign that McGee had even been there, no wet patch on the deck as there would have been if he had reappeared. At least, as far as they knew…

'Maybe he's taking longer then me to return?' Tony theorised.

'How long were you gone, Tony?'

'A few minutes. Five at most.'

'He has been gone for twice as long as you and when you returned you only just made the stern…' Tony's eyes widened as he realised what she meant and he ran to the back railings of the ship, peering over them to stare at the dark water below, staining his eyes for anything before a realisation hit him hard and he realised not all hope was lost.

'But we've stopped moving, haven't we?' Ziva nodded and he continued, 'I appeared where I disappeared, according to McGeek. I changed position on the ship because the ship was moving. So McGee will reappear in the same place he was where he disappeared, if he's right abut how this all works.' Ziva nodded as he was talking, signifying her agreement with his statements.

'So we should return to the place where he disappeared.' She finished for Tony.

Just then, Tony felt someone tap him in the back. 'Hey, Tony...' The voice whispered. Without thinking, Tony drew back his fist, swung around and slammed it into the face of the man behind him.

Tim felt the fist slam into his jaw and with a cry of surprise he fell backwards onto the deck, nearly cracking his head when he landed there. Tony's eyes widened in horror as he realised it was McGee he had hit.

'McGee!' Ziva cried, dropping to her knees beside him. Catching his eye she asked 'Are you alright?'

'Except for the fist to the jaw, yeah, I'm fine.'

'Just be glad it wasn't Ziva's back you tapped. Or that I didn't shoot first, look later.' Tim shuddered while Ziva looked thoughtful.

'Why were you tapping Tony's back anyway?' she asked.

'Wanted to get your attention. Not the attention of the criminals' two corridors away. This was the only way I could think of.' Rotating his jaw he commented, 'Man, Tony, you have a mean right hook!'

Tony smiled sheepishly, surveying Tim. 'Wait, why aren't you wet? Where did you go?'

'Because I flashed forward to a ship.' Tim rolled his eyes as he spoke.

'When did you go?' Ziva asked.

'Now…which is to say the present…or is just simply the time we came from? You know what I mean, NCIS time.'

'You were on a modern ship? Did you call someone?' Ziva asked.

'Did one better. I talked to Gibbs. In person.' At Tim's words, Tony and Ziva had mirroring looks of shock on their faces.

'Tell me you told him where we are McGee.' Tony said with a slightly threatening look on his face.

'I did…but I don't hear he heard me… I couldn't hear him and he couldn't hear me judging by the look on his face. Everything went hinky, One second we were fine and the next I was getting knocked around and it was like, a bad connection or something.'

'So, you did not tell him where we are?' Ziva asked, the hopeful look on her face disappearing.

'No…but I think I may have shown him.'

'What?' cried Ziva and Tony together.

'How did you do that McWonder?' Tony added.

'I'm not sure. I…flashed forward to the ship Gibbs is on and when I was there he must have grabbed me as I

returned to this time. And when I got back to this ship I found he had come too…'

'How?' breathed Ziva.

'I think he came back because he had physical contact with me via his hands. Once he let go, he disappeared.'

'But he knows where we are now?' Tony asked a hopeful look returning to his face. If anyone could get them out of here before they were all dead, it was Gibbs.

Tim looked up with a smile. 'I'm pretty sure he does.

Author's Note: Sorry it's so short, but that was where I always planned on ending the chapter.. it just didn't take as long to get as I thought it would. I'm going away, so next update may be a while.