"I told the family you were sick. I'm sure they know better, but I tried."
The voice echoes through the empty house, she is calmer than before.
"Don't think I'm going to cover for you again."
The words came out slowly and calm as if she had used up her anger already.
"You better have a good reason for not coming."
With that the woman hangs up, the click of the phone echoing through the rooms.
"DiNozzo."
Gibbs sounds a little mad, although he still has a smile on his face; Tony's desk is still covered in folders that he hasn't gotten to yet.
"Yes boss?"
"Get to work."
Tony sat down and starts on the folders again; Gibbs picks up his phone again and dials a familiar number.
"Kate?"
She is lying peacefully on the sand, a man has blocked the sun and she looks up at him.
"Are you Kate Todd?"
Kate continues to look at him and the man standing next to him and starts to smile.
"Could you get out of the sun?"
The men look behind them and watch as the sun hides behind another cloud.
"Are you Caitlin Todd?"
He is persistent, but Kate still ignored him. As he starts to ask her again she stands up and walks towards the street.
"We need to talk to you."
The tow men are running after her, she ducks into a restaurant and the men run past it as Kate sits down to eat.
Tony is sitting at his desk, his pile down to only a few folders.
"Hey, McGee."
Gibbs is gone and McGee is working on Kate's pile of cases.
"Yeah?"
"You notice something weird about Gibbs?"
McGee gives Tony a slightly confused look like he's trying to remember what Gibbs did all day.
"No. Not really, he has been smiling a lot."
"Thank you."
Tony says making it seem like McGee just answered a question that had been nagging him all day.
"Thanks for what?"
Gibbs walks around the corner and looks at the two accusingly; McGee stops smiling and starts on his work again.
"Nothing boss."
Tony says. Gibbs gives a look of suspicion but blew it off knowing that it was probably something stupid. The three of them sat at their desks in silence for a while longer before Tony spoke up again.
"You heard from Kate?"
Gibbs looked up at Tony and smiled a little more.
"Not lately."
"You sure?"
The look on Gibbs face tells Tony that it was a bad question to ask.
"Never mind."
As Tony continued with his work Gibbs looked at the clock, got up again headed for the elevator and jumps in. Tony and McGee watch as the doors close and look at their watches, both get up at the same time and head to the elevator. The bullpen is emptying and the elevator was full.
As Gibbs drove into his driveway he could hear his phone ringing. He runs to his door, unlocks it and grabs the phone that had been sitting next to the door.
"Gibbs."
"So it is you, figured as much."
Kate is on the other end, her laugh seems fake and Gibbs smile fades.
"Is something wrong?"
Gibbs can always tell when something's wrong, whether it is with Kate or someone else.
"No Gibbs, everything's fine."
Even though she was trying to hide her fright even Tony could have noticed it.
"Kate, maybe you should come back."
"No Gibbs I'm fine, I've got to go now."
With that Kate hangs up the phone and Gibbs is left standing at the doorway with a phone in his hand. He finally hangs up the phone and walks down to his boat, he doesn't start to work on it yet, instead he sits down and just stares at it. He puts his hand in his pocket and brings out his cell phone; he dials a number and starts to walk around the boat frame.
"Abby."
"Abs, who was it you were talking to today?"
Anyone could hear the worry in his voice.
"I can't tell you that Gibbs."
"Come on."
The pleading in his voice made Abby pause for a minute just to make sure it was really Gibbs.
"Fine, fine,"
Abby finally surrenders,
"Kate."
"I knew it."
He pauses pacing even more.
"What did she want?"
"Information on a couple of guys."
Abby had hesitated before answering him as if she was breaking some secret code.
"Did she seem scared?"
This made Abby stop for a second her thoughts going back to her phone conversation with Kate.
"A little, she seemed worried."
Abby's voice starts to sound worried as she said this.
"Did something happen to her?"
"No, no, she just called."
"Oh."
"Meet me at the office, your lab."
With that both of them said goodbye and hung up, Gibbs heads out the door and jumps into his car.
"Gibbs!"
Abby walks into her lab and Gibbs jumps a little. He had been looking at the desk where Abby sat more often.
"I started the search this morning."
"Who are they?"
Abby jumps into her computer chair and boots her computer up.
"I haven't found them yet."
Gibbs sits down really hard on the closest chair and leans back. He puts his hands on his face and closes his eyes.
"Find her."
His voice is muffled under his hands and he sits up and looks over at Abby.
"On it."
TBC
AN: Okay... so Kate might be in a little trouble. I'll try to write more in the three study halls I have in school. Now all I have to do is remember to bring the stories to school... Mmm. Hope you liked it.