A/N First off, thanks for all the lovely reviews, they keep me going! Secondly, there's parts in this chapter from Tim's POV, the "sound" of his thoughts reflect the current age of this body. Keep in mind he seems to have a problem with the letter "r". Last but certainly not least, a huge thank you to my beta, Gotta! It was refreshing to write outside of the box and to get to channel our inner child!
As the team shuffled out of the courtroom, Gibbs could no longer ignore the nagging feeling in his gut. Anxious to speak with Ducky to find out how Tim was doing; he slipped his phone out of his pocket and hit the speed dial. When the phone went to voicemail he knew something was terribly wrong and needed to get home as soon as possible. He turned to Tony and Ziva, "Ducky's not picking up, we need to get back to my house!"
Tony shrugged his shoulders, "Maybe you're overreacting, boss. Ducky was probably in the restroom or incapacitated at the moment." He didn't realize the irony of the last few words out of his mouth until Gibbs was standing inches from his face.
"Ya think, DiNozzo?"
He gulped, "You're right boss, we'll meet you back there." As they headed out to the cars, Gibbs' cell phone rang; he hoped that it was Ducky returning his call but when the caller ID read, Vance, he began to feel ill.
His hands shook as he flipped open the phone. "Yeah, Leon."
There was a quiet sigh on the other end of the line before Vance spoke. "Are you still at the courthouse?"
"Yeah we're leaving now, what happened?"
"I'm sorry, Gibbs. I hate to be the one to tell you this, but McGee's gone.
"Gone? He's gone?" Gibbs screamed into the phone as he slammed his fist down on the trunk of the car.
"Listen, that's all I know at this point. I'm on my way to your house right now and I suggest you do the same."
Gibbs stood in the middle of the parking lot; he found it hard to breathe as he began hyperventilating. Suddenly his knees buckled and if not for the quick reactions of Tony and Ziva, he would have hit the ground. "Whoa, you alright Gibbs?" Ziva asked as they guided him to sit on the bumper of the car.
"No, I'm not," Gibbs gasped between breaths as he handed Tony the phone. Ziva crouched down and rested her hand on his knee, "We need to get your breathing normal again. Focus on me and the pattern I am taking." She demonstrated slowly inhaling and exhaling as Gibbs followed her lead.
The entire time Tony had worked for Gibbs he had never before witnessed such a strong reaction out of him, never seen him express such strong emotions. Normally, Gibbs was the man, the rock, everyone leaned on to get them through tough times, not the other way around. Anxious to know what caused it he yelled, "What the hell is going on?" into the phone.
"DiNozzo, where's Gibbs?"
"Ahh director, he's trying to calm down right now, will you please tell me what's going on?"
"Agent McGee has been kidnapped. I'm on my way to Gibbs' house right now and you should be too."
For the first time in his life, Tony was speechless. He glanced over at Gibbs and Ziva; relieved to see the color had returned to his face and his breathing was under control.
"DiNozzo?"
"DiNozzo!" Vance bellowed trying to regain Tony's attention.
In a state of shock, Tony completely forgot he was on the phone. It wasn't until he heard the roar of Vance's voice that he snapped out of it. "Yeah, yeah director I'm still here."
"Good, listen I understand this is tough on everybody, but I need you to focus. I expect you to meet me at Gibbs' place in the next 10 minutes."
"We're on our way." Tony responded before snapping the phone shut. He glanced over at Gibbs, who physically appeared to be in better shape than he was a moment ago. Because Gibbs had already lost one child, Tony could not imagine the thoughts that were going through his mind. Gibbs would blame himself for not listening to his gut even though it was a direct order from Vance. And god forbid, if anything happened to Tim while he was kidnapped, Tony knew nobody would be able to pull Gibbs out of the depths of despair. The tables were turned and he was in a whole new territory. He knew for the time being, he needed to take charge. After taking a deep breath, he rejoined the two at the car.
"Give me your keys, boss. I'm driving you home."
Gibbs stood up, "I'm fine, Tony."
The younger man held out his hand, "You're not fine! Give me the keys so we can get there safely."
Gibbs rolled his eyes and started to walk around to the driver's side, but Tony stepped in front of the door before he could reach it. Ziva watched as the two men stared at each other, both prepared to stand their ground. When she realized neither of them planned to move she spoke up, "We are wasting precious time, Tim needs us!"
Both men turned to look at her before Gibbs finally admitted defeat. He handed Tony the car keys and walked around to the passenger side. "Finally," she exclaimed, throwing her arms up in the air as she walked over to the other car.
The drive home was quiet; occasionally Tony would glance over to check on Gibbs, but didn't attempt to speak to him. As they turned the corner onto Gibbs' street, an ambulance flew by them with lights flashing and sirens wailing. There were two other ambulances parked in front of the house, forcing Tony to park a few doors down. Gibbs had the car door open even before they came to a complete stop.
Even though Tim was gone, Gibbs was still concerned about his other team members. He ducked under the yellow crime scene tape that surrounded the house and watched as the paramedics tended to one of the agents who had been on protection detail. He sighed with relief when he saw Ducky and Palmer sitting on the porch being examined. Ducky attempted to stand when he noticed Gibbs, but the effects of the gas still lingered in his system and he swayed heavily before one of the paramedics sat him down again.
Gibbs squatted down in front of them, "You guys alright?"
Ducky sighed, "I'm so very sorry, Jethro. I didn't realize anything was wrong until it was too late. Now Timothy is gone and it's all my fault."
Shaking his head, Gibbs glanced between them, "It's not either one of your faults. If it's anyone's fault, it's mine. I should have followed my instincts; instead I let Vance talk me into going to court." He clenched his fists, "Back to my first question, are you two okay?"
Palmer gave a slight nod, "I think so, it all happened so fast. I'm sorry Agent Gibbs."
After speaking with the paramedics and other agents at the scene, Vance, Tony and Ziva huddled around the front porch.
"It appears the two agents who were on protection detail were each shot twice with tranquilizer darts. They are having a difficult time waking up, but the paramedics believe they will make a full recovery." Ziva informed them.
"How are they doing?" Vance asked pointing to Jimmy and Ducky.
"They were very lucky, sir. We still recommend they be taken to the hospital for observation. They each have a mark on their arm where they were injected with a counteracting drug otherwise, they would have over dosed. It's possible the drug is still in their systems, which could narrow down the sedative that was used."
Ducky scoffed, "I'm not going to the hospital; you can draw our blood right here."
Gibbs patted Ducky's knee, "Once you two are examined and given the all clear, you can come back and help. You're still feeling the effects of the gas; it won't do us any good if you're not one hundred percent."
Jimmy laughed, "Guess what they say is true, doctors make the worst patients."
"Gibbs is right, you two need to go to the hospital. There will be plenty for you to do when you get back." Vance reassured them.
Ducky leaned his head against the railing, his gaze cast downward, "I should have realized something was wrong when Tim's depth perception became altered."
Vance sighed, "Before you two leave for the hospital can you tell us what you remember?"
Jimmy nodded, "After the team left, Tim wouldn't stop crying. He wanted Agent Gibbs, but after I fed him a bottle, he calmed down enough so we were able to play. Doctor Mallard was sitting in the easy chair while I was on the floor with Tim. We were making buildings when we noticed Tim was trying to stack blocks but he kept missing. He was either too far to the left or too far to the right. All of a sudden he got this confused look on his face, looked like he was about to speak but then slumped to one side, hitting his head on the ground."
Ducky chimed in, "I warned Mr. Palmer that we needed to leave, I started coughing and when I went to stand, I collapsed. That is really all I remember."
Gibbs nodded, "Anything else you remember? Did you hear any noises?
Jimmy shook his head, "I do remember hearing a few cars, but I didn't think anything of it at the time. After Dr. Mallard collapsed, I started coughing too. I knew I had to help Tim; he was only a few feet away from me. The gas was so strong that by the time I got my hands on him, I couldn't even pull him close to me. The last thing I remember was Jethro, lying on the floor next to Tim."
There was a collective gasp when Jimmy mentioned the dog. Gibbs' heart sank, how would he explain to Tim that his dog didn't make it? "Please tell me Jethro is okay," Gibbs pleaded.
"I believe he will be fine, Agent Gibbs. He was slowly coming around after I finished with him."
Ducky patted Jimmy on the back, "Young Mr. Palmer is being quite modest. Even though he was still quite disoriented, he managed to save Jethro's life by giving him CPR.
The agents exchanged glances of disbelief before they broke into a litany of hoots and hollers. Jimmy blushed and waved off their praises, "Really it wasn't too difficult, although I could use a breath mint."
"Nonsense, it was a big deal Mr. Palmer!"
"Aww shucks guys, it really wasn't. I'm just really glad I was able to help. I wanted to go with him to the vet, but obviously I wasn't in any condition to. Agent Peters rushed him to a local vet; he was alert and breathing when they left here."
Jimmy looked over at his mentor; "I'll call to check on his condition after we get checked out at the hospital."
Gibbs reached out and shook Jimmy's hand, "That's a good thing you did Palmer."
Jimmy smiled, "Thanks, I guess that summer working at the vet's office really paid off."
As they were finishing up one of the paramedics interrupted them, "I know you have an investigation to conduct, but these two really need to get to the hospital."
The team stepped aside to allow Ducky and Jimmy space to get thru. "Do you think you can walk or do you want me to get the stretcher?" One of the paramedics asked them. Gibbs grabbed Ducky's arm to steady him as he stood up. The older man swayed, but quickly steadied himself. "You okay, Duck?" Gibbs inquired. He nodded as he stepped down and allowed the paramedic to guide him to the ambulance. They watched as Palmer followed his lead; Tony moved closer to him in case he was still wobbly. However, once he was on his feet he didn't have the same dizziness that Ducky did. He motioned he was ready to continue as another paramedic stepped in and helped him down the stairs to begin the trip to the ambulance. Once the two men were situated Gibbs made his way over to the vehicle. "If they give you any trouble, feel free to restrain them."
Now it was time to get to work, Gibbs needed to know every little scrap of evidence that Ella left behind. He knew Tim was counting on him and there was no way he was going to let his little boy down.
***NCIS***
I heaw voishes, but not fwom mah famwy. Maybe I dweaming o' Toey's pwaying jowkes on me agin. My heart feel like it's gonna fly outta mah chest. Mah head's too heaby, mah mind gots co' webs, which I havta wade thwough to get to da top. I'm afwaid ta open mah eyes for feaw of what o' who I might see. Tink...tink... tink what's the wast thing I wemember? Oh yesh, I was pwaying with Ducky and Jimmy while the west of da team went to cort. I heaw a man's voish, but it's not mah dada's or anyone I know. I don' wemember when da wast time I was thish tiwred or gwoggy. Ugh, mah mouth is icky, how long I been sweeping for? Dose voishes are fawr away now, maybe I shoud look awound. I'm scawred...I want mah dada he knows what to do. Dada would want me ta be bwave so I'm gonna look. Kay heaw I go, I'm in a cwib but not at mah dada's housh. I'm gonna woll onto mah side to get a bettah look. Uh oh, this no' good, I don' know whewre I am. Dada always comesh if I cwy so I twy dat furst.
Ella watched Lucy sleep on the couch. When Jed carried her in, she was still feeling the effects of the rohypnol. Ella had slipped the pill to Lucy when she went to visit her at the jail. Lucy was going to be excited to bond with her new little boy, but she needed to be coherent enough to do so. When Ella arrived back at the house, she pulled in the garage and carried Tim inside. He awakened in the car but immediately went back to sleep. Because he was a baby she wasn't sure how long the effects of the gas would last. Ella turned the television on; they needed to know if an Amber Alert was issued or any news pertaining to his kidnapping. She knew Timmy would need to eat soon; she filled up the sink and started washing the baby bottles she bought a few days ago. All of a sudden there was a loud cry emanating from the baby monitor. She smiled, dried her hands and walked toward the nursery.
Whwre mah dada? Nowmally, he comesh wight away if I need him. Yesh, I heaw the doowr open.
"Well hello sweetie, do you remember me?" Ella asked has she leaned over the crib and pinched Tim's cheek.
Wha? Ahhhhhhh! Noooooooo! Whats cwazy lady doin' heaw?
"Aww its okay baby! Your mommy's sleeping right now, but Auntie Ella is here and she's going to take care of you."
Tim tried to scoot away but his body was still feeling the side effects from the gas.
Ella laughed, "This is your new reality, kid. Agent Gibbs and NCIS are a thing of the past. We're your new family now!
"Dada...no Gib!" Tim's voice was hoarse but he managed to make his point.
"Agent Gibbs is not your father; he never has been and never will be. Get over it."
No cawre whats she shay. Gib muh dada and me lube him. Muh tummy huwrt tink I sick. Uh oh bettah woll onto muh side.
Ella watched as Tim rolled onto his side, started to dry heave then vomited all over the sheets. Annoyed she yanked him out of the crib and carried him to the changing table. "Great now I have something else to clean up. I have no idea why Lucy wanted you!"
Me feels wittle bettah now but me wants muh dada. I no wants theze cwazy womens.
"Guess I should change your diaper so you don't get a rash and get you out of these awful clothes. I have some that will look much cuter on you."
Nooooooo! Needs to get outta heaw!
As Ella began undressing him, Tim knew he had to do everything in his power to make it as difficult as possible. What better way to do that then moving? When she unbuttoned his jeans, he started kicking his legs, one kick hitting her straight in the chest. After shaking it off, she grabbed his legs and smacked his thigh. "If you don't stay still boy, there's plenty more where that came from."
"Owweee!"
"What are you doing to my dear sweet baby boy?" Lucy asked as she walked in.
Ella jumped when she realized she had been caught. "Hey sis, it's nice to see you again, but shouldn't you be in bed?"
"Well I'm still tired, but when I woke up and heard my new little bundle I just had to come and check on him."
"I know you didn't think I could pull off your plan, but I did!"
Lucy walked over and ran her fingers though Tim's hair, "Yes, you did. Oh my gosh, he's even more adorable than I could ever imagine!"
Nooooo! Secund cwazy lady is heaw!
Tim immediately jerked his head back as Lucy ran her fingers though his hair. Tears filled his eyes and he began sobbing. That action was reserved only for his dada o' Toey and Zeba.
Ella sighed, "Well he's upset. Referred to Agent Gibbs as his dada earlier. To top it off he vomited all over the sheets in his crib."
Lucy smiled, "Well how about this, you change the sheets and I'll deal with the lil' guy. He just wants his mommy, isn't that right sweetie?" She cooed using a tissue to wipe the tears from his cheeks.
No, no, no not wright, u fweaks! When dis dweam be ober with? Leab me lone!
Ella stepped aside to allow Lucy full access to the changing table, while she went to get clean sheets for the crib.
Tim squirmed as Lucy unfastened his diaper, "Come on sweetie, you don't want to sit in a wet diaper all day now, do you?"
"Yesh!" Tim responded sticking his tongue out.
Lucy laughed as the youngster did everything in his power to make it difficult for her to complete the task. In the end, she was too overpowering and Tim slumped onto the changing table in defeat.
She patted his tummy, "I know this is overwhelming for you right now, but in a few days there will be nowhere else you'll want to be. I'm going to take such good care of you."
Yesh, wright lady! Me neber fowget dada, Ducky, Abs, Toey, Zeba, Jimmy, Bance. Twy all u want!
Lucy grabbed a new sleeper from the drawer and checked the size against Tim. "Ahh good this should fit just right. I can't believe my dream of being a mom is a reality!
She grabbed Tim's arms and pulled him up into a sitting position. "Let's get this shirt off you, shall we?"
As Lucy started to unbutton Tim's shirt he reached down, grabbed her hand and bit it. She pulled her hand away in disgust, "Now…now… babies don't bite!"
"If I were you, I would smack him," Ella stated as she walked back in with a clean set of sheets.
Lucy clucked her tongued, "He's just a scared little guy, he doesn't understand that it's not nice to bite."
Ella shrugged her shoulders, "It doesn't matter, how will he ever learn discipline if you allow him to do what he wants?"
"There are other ways to discipline a child besides physical violence. We just have to get creative. Taking away toys or timeouts will be our best bet for right now. When he gets older we can discuss other forms of discipline."
Noooooo! No wanna be heaw foweber! Dada pwease wescu me soon!
Lucy picked Tim up off the changing table, "You must be thirsty, let's go get you a bottle."
"I was in the process of washing them out when Timmy woke up. However, there are a few clean ones next to the sink. The formula is in the cupboard next to the refrigerator. I'm almost done here; I'll meet you out there in a few minutes."
Ella stripped the sheet of the crib and muttered beneath her breath, "I don't care what Lucy says, if that baby is violent towards me, I'm going to be violent back." She giggled, "Maybe if he's not even violent, I might just have to show him who's the boss."
Tim squirmed in Lucy's arms, but he was out matched. It didn't matter what he tried there was no way he would be able to escape from these two women. He decided his best bet would be to get familiar with the entire house in case a moment of escape presented itself. The house was small, from what he could tell there was a small bathroom in the hall, a family room and kitchen. Lucy plopped him down in a highchair and snapped the tray in. "No way you can get out of there, now be a good boy while mommy makes you a bottle."
Me no wants ba ba! Me onwly wants ta go home and see dada!
Once again, tears filled Tim's eyes as he began sobbing. "Aww what's wrong little one?" Lucy asked as she rubbed his back.
"Dadaaaaaa…me… wants…muh… dadaaaaaa" Tim choked out between sobs.
"You can cry for Agent Gibbs all you want, but he's not your daddy anymore. The sooner you come to that realization the better off you'll be."
Tim shook his head as the tears continued to stream down his face, landing on the tray of the highchair.
***NCIS***
As the ambulance pulled away, Gibbs surveyed the scene in front of him. A group of NCIS agents were taking pictures and gathering evidence while, Tony and Ziva stood at the front door. He took a deep breath as he headed across the front yard to join his team. Right before he reached the stairs, Vance cut him off and pulled him aside. "Gibbs, I need to know if you're going to be able to work this case without flying off the handle."
Gibbs scoffed and took a step forward, his fists clenched. "I can't believe you're asking me this right now! This is your fault Leon, I told you I didn't want to go but you insisted and now Tim's gone!"
Tony and Ziva watched the scene in front of them unfold. Concerned with Gibbs emotions at the moment, they moved toward the two men. "Do you think that Gibbs would hit the director?" Ziva whispered.
"Anything's possible. Right now, I wouldn't put it past him."
"It's called doing your job Gibbs; we had the proper protection detail set up. They shouldn't have been able to get past them."
Steam was coming out of Gibbs' ears as he swung his arm back. However, Tony stepped in and grabbed it before he was able to get off a punch. "Boss, don't do this. Tim wouldn't want you to." He pleaded while putting his body in between the two men. Gibbs' eyes darted back and forth between his senior field agent and Vance as he took a step back and ran his fingers through his hair. He turned and started walking toward the house, while the others shared looks of concern amongst themselves.
Vance cleared his throat, "I'm putting you two in charge of him. We have even bigger problems now. I just got off the phone with the district attorney; apparently Lucy Grey escaped during transport to the hospital. A man cut off the ambulance and used a tranquilizer gun to subdue the paramedics and guard, then helped her escape. The men are still waking up, but we hope that between our two agents and the other three men they will be able to give enough information to the sketch artist."
Tony sighed, "Great, and you couldn't have told Gibbs that before he got mad at you?"
Vance patted Tony on the back, "Thought I would leave that for his senior field agent. I'm not leaving yet, I have a few phone calls to make."
"Tony...Ziver...come on let's go!" Gibbs bellowed from the porch.
Ziva quickly responded to Gibbs request, but Tony wasn't as quick to follow. He turned to Vance, "I'll keep my eye on Gibbs, but I've trusted him for ten years and he's never let me down. I'll stand behind every decision he makes even if you feel it's not a good idea. He's already lost one kid; and I'll be damned if we lose Tim."
Vance nodded, "I don't plan on losing Tim either; keep me in the loop."
Tony ran to catch up with Gibbs and Ziva who were getting ready to head inside the house. As they walked in, their eyes were drawn to the pile of blocks in the middle of the family room. Gibbs walked over, knelt down and examined them. He swallowed the lump in his throat as he thought about how scared Tim must be and how he wasn't here to protect him. A hand on his shoulder brought him out of his thoughts; he turned to see Ziva, who had a concerned look on her face. "We will find him, Gibbs. Nobody is resting until Tim is safe." Gibbs nodded, ran a hand over his face and stood up.
"Uh boss, there's something you need to know before we go any further." Tony said refusing to make eye contact with Gibbs.
"Just spit it out, DiNozzo! I don't think it can get any worse, do you?"
Tony grit his teeth, "Well it depends on your definition of worse. Lucy Grey escaped during the transport to the hospital."
DiNozzo took a step back as Gibbs threw his arms up in the air.
"Why am I not surprised? What happened?"
Ziva started pacing back and forth; muttering in Hebrew under her breath.
Tony sighed, "The details are sketchy, but it appears the two paramedics and the guard were shot with a tranquilizer gun."
"Alright, I need to know what evidence was left here. In the meantime, Ziva call Abby and have her get together photos of the Greys. Have Vance use his connections over at ZNN; let's get their photos out to the public. Let the Greys think we are casting a net over the East coast.
Ziva stopped taking notes and looked up at with a confused look on her face. "You mean we are not?"
Gibbs shook his head, "My gut is telling me that they're still in the DC area. I ignored it earlier and I refuse to do that again. Let them think we're looking all over the place and in the meantime we can focus on the surrounding areas. Perhaps, they'll let their guard down."
"Boss, you know that Abby hasn't been informed about this yet. Who's going to deal with her?"
"I don't know, Tony. I have a lot of other things on my mind right now besides how Abby is going to take this. Now, what evidence was left behind, we need to get that to her as soon as possible."
Tony motioned for another agent who was standing in the corner to join them.
"Boss, this is Agent Bradley. He's going to give us the run down on the evidence that was collected then take it back to Abby."
Bradley gulped when he saw the look on Gibbs' face, "Yes...well...I was the first agent on the scene. One of our agents was covered with this blanket he said holding up a large evidence bag. The paramedics removed the tranquilizer darts and bagged them so hopefully we'll get fingerprints off them. Sorry Agent Gibbs, but the air conditioner was drilled into so we had to remove it. The last piece of evidence is a needle we found lying in the backyard. If we're lucky Abby can pull DNA off this too."
Gibbs smirked as Bradley wiped the sweat off his brow. "I'm going to go now, let me know if I can be of any more assistance."
While Tony and Ziva awaited the next set of instructions from Gibbs, Vance approached them. "Agent Jones and Matthews are awake and coherent. They're ready for questions; take a sketch artist down there with you. The Greys have an accomplice; we need to know who this person is."
"DiNozzo, head down to the hospital. Ziva head back to NCIS and help Abby with the evidence. We need to get that news report out on the Greys within the next hour. Someone had to see something!"
"Umm director can I hitch a ride back to NCIS with you? There is only one car and Tony and I must go in separate directions."
"Of course Agent David, give me a moment okay?"
Ziva nodded and went to join Tony outside.
Gibbs scoffed, "Have something to say to me?"
Vance smirked, "Well I wanted to let you know that NCIS will pay for a new air conditioner."
Gibbs rolled his eyes, "Oh yeah, that's really what I'm worried about now. Thanks."
"I also wanted to say, I will do everything in my power to make sure Agent McGee gets back to us safely. The Greys will never be able to hurt anyone again once I get through with them."
"That makes two of us, Leon."