(One Month Later)

(At Callen's House)

(Callen's P.O.V.)

"Here you go, Molly." I said, setting down her water bowl.

Molly was my dog. She was a three year old golden retriever.

I picked her out with Emily that night she drove me to the animal shelter.

And I have to say, having her in the house, made me feel less lonely.

"I got to go to work." I said to her. "I'll come by to check on you. Be a good girl while I'm gone."

Molly licked my face in response.

I chuckled and petted her.

Then, I stood up, and headed toward the door just as I heard a car horn.

"Yes, Sam, I'm coming!" I said, as I picked up my bag.

Then, I opened the door, seeing the black challenger in the driveway.

I then walked outside. Closing and locking the door behind me.

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(At NCIS: OSP Headquarters)

(Emily's P.O.V.)

I was sitting at my desk doing some paper work.

I was the first one in the bull pen today. Due to the fact I had another nightmare, and, once again, didn't go back to sleep. Like always.

As I was working on paper work, I heard a voice say:

"Miss Taylor,"

I looked up and saw Hetty and another person standing beside her.

"I would like you to meet Nate Getz." Hetty said, gesturing toward the man beside her. "He is our team psychologist who drops in from time to time. Nate, this is Special Agent Emily Taylor."

"Hi, Emily." Nate said, holding his hand out to me. "I've heard a lot about you."

"Hi." I said, taking his hand and shaking it. "I've heard a lot about you, too."

"I'll let you two get to know each other a little more." Hetty said, as our hands pulled apart.

Then, Hetty left the bull pen.

Nate smiled at me.

I smiled back at him.

Then, Nate walked over to Marty's desk, and sat down in Marty's chair.

"So, Emily," Nate began. "Tell me about yourself."

"You're not shrinking me….Are you?" I asked.

"I wasn't." He said. "Though, you do look tired….You didn't sleep well last night."

I suddenly felt uncomfortable.

"You had a nightmare, didn't you?" Nate asked. "What was it about?"

"Uh, well, this was, uh, 'fun'." I began. "But I think, uh, I'm just….yeah."

I then got up, and began to walk away.

"Emily, wait!" I heard Nate call after me. "Emily!"

I then felt a hand gently grab my elbow.

I turned around and faced him.

"I'm sorry." Nate said. "I didn't mean to go all…..Shrinky on you. It just happens sometimes…..Can we try again?"

"…..Ok." I said.

Nate and I began to walk back to the bull pen, when my phone began to ring.

I took my phone out and answered it.

"Taylor." I said.

"Ah, Agent Taylor." Said a voice on the other side of the phone.

I stopped dead in my tracks.

I could feel the blood drain from my face.

I knew this voice. This voice haunted me.

"It's so nice to hear your voice again." The person said.

I'm dreaming, I thought, That's it. I'm having another nightmare.

"What?" The person asked. "Speechless? I find that hard to believe."

"You're in jail." I said, staying calm.

"Oh my dear former Detective," the person said. "You and I both know Katerina told you the truth about me. Unlike your boss. Hetty, right?"

I looked over at Hetty and saw she was at her desk doing paper work. Minding her own business.

I then looked over at Nate, who resumed his place at Marty's desk, and saw he was looking at me with concern.

I looked away from him.

"What do you want, Stavoski?" I asked, as I headed toward the gym for privacy.

"You." Stavoski said.

"Then come and get me." I said.

"Oh, don't worry Agent Taylor." Stavoski said. "I will get you. In fact, you will be coming to me…But for now, I want to play a game. And you're going to play too."

"Forget it." I said, as I entered the gym. "I'm not playing anymore of your games."

"Not even if someone you care about life's at stake?" He asked.

"You got nothing." I said, calling his bluff.

"Right now, I'm watching Detective Martin Deeks do his normal morning run." Stavoski said. "One call, one word, and my sniper will take him out."

"You're lying." I said. "Katerina said you wouldn't hurt him."

"I think I changed my mind." Stavoski said.

"Do ANYTHING to him, and I swear I will kill you in the most painful way possible." I said. "That's a promise."

Stavoski laughed.

"There's the former Detective I know." Stavoski said, amused. "Tell you what? I'll leave Detective Deeks alone, and spare his life, if you do one thing for me."

"What? " I asked.

"Play my game." He said.

"Fine." I said, without hesitation. "I'll you're your game."

"That's the spirit!" Stavoski said. "Now, this game is going to be different than the one we played last time."

A shiver went down my spine.

"Instead of kidnapping you, I'll let you play the field." Stavoski said. "Your goal is to figure out who I'm going to kidnap next with the clue I provide for you. If you fail to get to the person before I do, you lose…..Understand?"

"Understood." I said.

"Good. Now here's the clue," Stavoski said. "Their closer to you than you know. And you gave the person something, someone else took away."

"You're not going to tell me if it's a he or she?" I asked.

"That would ruin the fun." Stavoski said. "You have forty-eight hours…Good luck, Agent Taylor."

Then the line went dead.

I hung up the phone. Anger coursing through me.

Hetty lied to me.

She lied about Stavoski being in jail.

And now, I have forty-eight hours to figure out from the clue he gave me who he plans on kidnapping, and save him or her, before he does.

I stormed out of the gym, and headed toward Hetty's Office.

When I got to Hetty's Office, I said angrily:

"You lied to me."

Hetty looked up at me.

"About what, Miss Taylor?" Hetty asked.

"Stavoski." I said. "He's out of jail. Just like what Katerina said."

Hetty looked at me shocked.

"How did you find out?" She asked.

"Why did you lie to me?" I asked.

"Miss Taylor," Hetty began.

"WHY DID YOU LIE TO ME?!" I shouted angrily at her.

It was silent, as Hetty and I stared at each other.

"I didn't tell you, because I wanted to protect you." Hetty said.

"Who else knows?" I asked.

"Marty." She said.

I laughed a little in disbelief.

Marty knew, and didn't tell me.

"Is that why Nate is here?" I asked.

"Yes." Hetty said nodding.

"Great." I said. "Fantastic."

"Emily," Hetty began.

"Don't." I said. "Just don't."

I then left her office and headed toward the exit of the building.

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(At NCIS: OSP Headquarters)

(Callen's P.O.V.)

Sam and I walked into the NCIS building and headed toward the bull pen.

As we approached it, I saw Kensi, Deeks, Eric, Nell, and Nate in the bull pen.

"Nate!" I said, as we entered.

"Callen." Nate said. "Sam."

"What are you doing here?" Sam asked.

"Visiting." Nate said, as I looked at everyone else.

They all looked worried. Especially Deeks.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Everyone up to OPS." I heard a voice say behind me.

I turned around and saw Hetty.

"Now." Hetty said.

I looked at Sam and he looked at me, as everyone headed toward the stairs.

"Thoughts?" I asked him.

"Something serious." Sam said.

"I agree." I said.

Sam and I sat down our bags down, and headed toward the stairs up to OPS.

Once Sam and I joined Hetty, Nate, Nell, Eric, Kensi, and Deeks in OPS, Hetty said:

"Something very serious has developed. And it involves one of our own."

I looked at everyone in the room, and realized who was missing.

"If you don't know who I'm talking about," Hetty began. "It's Miss Taylor."

Hetty then gave a nod to Nell.

"Mr. Deeks." Hetty said, as a picture of a man came up on the screen.

Deeks nodded, and walked to the front of the room and faced us.

"This guy behind me, is Misha Stavoski." Deeks said. "We met his niece a while ago. I'm pretty sure you remember her."

Then, a picture of Katerina Caviccio showed up beside Misha Stavoski.

"The last case Emily and I worked on together at LAPD, involved Stavoski." Deeks said. "When we got handed the case, there had been eight individual victims. Each victim was kidnapped by Stavoski, and was found dead, and tied up in an abandoned building with five dead bodies with them. Each one murdered by Stavoski."

"So, he's a serial killer?" Kensi asked.

Deeks nodded.

"Emily and Stavoski have a past." Nate said. "And not just because she was working on those cases, either."

"What happened?" I asked.

Deeks took a deep breath.

"One night, everything was normal." Deeks said. "We were at her apartment watching movies like we always do on a Sunday night. I eventually went home. And the next morning I walked into LAPD expecting to see Emily at her desk, but she wasn't there….I just thought she was running late. It wouldn't have been the first time…..But as minutes turned into two hours, I began to get worried. I called her cell phone but it was off…So, I went to her apartment, and found it completely trashed, along with blood on the floor."

"Mr. Deeks immediately called the police, and me." Hetty said. "And a couple hours later, we received a call from Stavoski, telling us he had Miss Taylor, and that was all."

Deeks nodded, clearly remembering well.

"Do you know why he chose Emily?" Sam asked.

"Every victim before her was female." Nate said. "Each one had the same hair color. More than likely Stavoski saw Emily and those other girls as a reminder of someone he used to know."

"How did you get her back?" Kensi asked.

"I got her back." Deeks said. "No thanks to LAPD."

"What do you mean?" Eric asked.

"Well, I was the one in charge of getting Emily back." Deeks said. "And it was no secret that almost everyone at LAPD hated me."

"So, they didn't help you?" Nell asked.

"They helped to a point." Deeks said. "However, the people who ACTUALLY liked me, continued to help me look for Emily….After a week of looking for her, I was called into Captain Spears Office. He was the boss of Lieutenant Bates, who is my boss….Basically, Captain Spears told me that it's been a week since Emily has been missing, and more than likely she was already dead….He told me to stop looking for her, and focus on other cases."

When Deeks said that, I couldn't believe it.

"I was pissed he said that to me." Deeks said. "And I told him to go to hell, and that I wasn't going to stop looking for Emily until I found her. I was almost to the door when he said: "If you walk out of this room, don't even think about coming back"….So, I walked back to his desk, sat my badge and gun on his desk, and left."

Hearing that Deeks gave up his career in order to find Emily, only let me know that they had a deep, and unbreakable bond.

Just like me and Sam.

"When I left LAPD, I called Hetty, and we created our own search for Emily." Deeks said. "Which involved Gibbs and Tony…It wasn't until a week later Stavoski slipped. Tony and I spotted him at a grocery store and followed him to an abandoned building. Once Hetty and Gibbs and a couple other people showed up, we went inside the building, and apprehended Stavoski. We then searched the building. Each one of us took a level. I ended up taking the basement."

Deeks paused, and looked away from us.

"I found her." Deeks said. "In the basement…..with five other bodies." Deeks then looked up at us. "Without a doubt in my mind, I knew that if we didn't find her that day, she would have been dead….When she saw me, she…She looked so scared, yet so relieved to see me…..And when she hugged me….She didn't let go."

Deeks paused again, blinking his eyes.

"What happened after that?" Kensi asked softly and gently.

Deeks was silent for a couple more seconds, then, he said:

"We tried to get Emily to talk to us about what happened from when I left her apartment up to when we found her, but she wouldn't talk about it….She still doesn't talk about it." Deeks said. "Hetty got my job back, along with getting Captain Spears fired…..That was also the same day Emily resigned from LAPD…..She said she couldn't stay here and….She had to be somewhere else."

"So, Stavoski was the ultimate reason why she left?" Nate asked.

Deeks nodded.

"What happened to Stavoski?" I asked.

"He was sentenced to live the rest of his days in a federal prison." Hetty said.

"I feel a 'but' coming on." Sam said.

"However," Hetty began.

"Close enough." Sam said.

"Stavoski escaped prison, three years ago, with the help of his niece." Hetty said. "And Miss Taylor found out I lied to her today about him being behind bars."

"Why did you lie?" I asked.

"I was protecting her, Mr. Callen." Hetty said. "Surely, you would have done the same thing if you were in my shoes."

I couldn't argue with her there. I would have done the same thing.

"Where's Emily now?" Sam asked.

"She turned off her cell phone." Eric said.

"But Hetty said that is a normal response from her whenever she gets angry at either her or Deeks." Nell added quickly, looking directly at me.

I silently thanked her.

"So, you don't know where she is?" Kensi asked.

Eric and Nell shook their heads.

"We should find her soon." Nate said. "Because if I'm right,
Stavoski is a perfectionist. He finishes one thing before he goes on to the next. And since Emily's alive, and if he knows she is, he's probably in Los Angeles right now looking her."

"Do you know where she would go?" Sam asked Deeks.

"Your guess is as good as mine." Deeks said.

"She's your best friend." I said, anger clear in my voice. "How do you NOT know where she is?!"

"G.," Sam began.

"How do you not know?" I asked Deeks. Ignoring Sam.

"Because whenever Emily got pissed off I could NEVER find her." Deeks snapped angrily at me. "She could be on a plane to D.C. right now, and I wouldn't know it!"

"She's not." I heard Eric say.

Deeks and I both looked at him.

"I checked the security cameras at the airports." Eric explained. "She's not flying anywhere."

"Well, that rules out D.C." Kensi said, as I felt eyes on me.

I looked at Nate and saw he was looking at me.

He had that: "I think I know something about you others don't" look on his face.

Great, I thought, He knows.

"How about instead of talking, we all go look for Miss Taylor." Hetty said, as I looked away from Nate and looked at her. "Mr. Beale and Miss Jones will be our eyes over the city and will let us know if Miss Taylor puts her phone back on, or is she appears on any of the cameras."

I looked at Deeks just in time to see him look at me.

Then, Deeks headed toward the door.

I followed him, as Sam, Kensi, and Nate followed the both of us.