Rubbing the back of her aching neck with one hand, Kate picked up her cup of coffee with the other. She frowned, making a face at the cold congealed mess she found at the bottom. She'd searched the database of missing marines and none of them matched the description of their John Doe. Not that she'd really thought it would turn up anything, but Gibbs always said they had to eliminate every possibility before they could move on. One possibility eliminated. Only problem was she wasn't where they went from there.

Gibbs appeared at her desk with a fresh cup of coffee in hand, sitting it on her desk. "Anything?"

Gratefully she picked it up, sipping the fragrant liquid carefully. She shook her head, "Nothing."

"Okay, let's widen our search."

"Gibbs?"

"Let's start searching through the national database of missing persons with our John Doe's description. Check with local law enforcement. But chances are if this guys homeless like Ducky thinks, no one's going to have reported him missing."

The ringing of the phone Gibb's desk drew his attention. "Get on it."

Resigned that she wasn't going home anytime soon,. She put the cup down and turned back to her computer.

Gibbs grabbed the phone before he sat, "Gibbs, here."

"Mr. Gibbs," the voice was one of the NCIS operators. Maggie he thought, "I have a woman on hold who says she has information regarding Agent Dinozzo?"

"Put her through." He took a deep breath. Dinozzo? Wasn't he supposed to be out questioning a witness? There was a click, "Special Agent Jethro Gibbs."

"Mr. Gibbs?" The feminine voice on the other end of the line sounded breathy and panicky. He waved for Kate's attention and hit the speaker button so she could hear, too. Kate hurried over.

"This is Jethro Gibbs. Did I understand that you were calling about Special Agent Dinozzo?"

She sounded near to tears, her words tumbling out in her urgency, "I'm sorry to bother you Mr. Gibbs, but I think something's happened to Tony."

Gibbs exchanged a grim glance with Kate. "Take a breath, Miss….?"

"I'm sorry," they could hear her as she audibly gulped down air. "My name is Nancy Morgan." Her voice was a little calmer.

They could hear aboy's voice in the background, "Mom, is Tony there?" She shushed him quickly.

Gibbs did his best to make his voice as soothing as possible, he had a feeling it wouldn't take much to send this woman over the edge, "Alright, now, Miss Morgan, why do you think something's happened to Tony?"

"He called me."

"How long ago was that?"

"It's only been a few minutes, Mr. Gibbs. He was supposed to be here at seven."

"Did you have a date?" Gibbs asked. He wasn't really concerned with that, he was just trying to get a clear picture of the situation.

She was getting calmer by the moment, "No, no, he was supposed to pick up my son, Ben, he's Ben's big brother."

"Tony doesn't have any brothers," Kate said quietly.

Nancy heard her and answered, "No, he's not Ben's big brother. He's Ben's big brother."

"It's a special program for kids without fathers, Kate," Gibbs told her impatiently.

"Yes," Nancy confirmed, "he was supposed to pick up Ben tonight. They were going to a movie and to an arcade."

"Sounds like Tony's idea of the perfect date," Kate commented with a smile.

Gibbs frowned at her before speaking, "I'm afraid I sent him out to question a witness."

"I know. He just called me to cancel. But while I was on the phone with him, there was something… I don't know… something happened. I could hear tires, you know like when they skid. And I heard him say.. 'McGee? hold on.' Then there was the sound like metal hitting metal, it was awful and then the phone went dead. Mr. Gibbs, I didn't know what else to do." The distress was back in her voice.

"You did exactly right," Gibbs told her calmly. It certainly wasn't the way he felt. He wanted to hang up on her and call Dinozzo and McGee. Make sure they were okay, but he couldn't do that. He nudged Kate, pointing to her phone. Instantly she understood what he wanted and moved to her desk, picking up her phone.

As she dialed the number he turned his attention back to the woman on the phone, "Miss Morgan, how old is your son?"

"Ben? He's almost fourteen."

"And you say that Tony Dinozzo is his big brother?" Gibbs was just trying to get his brain around the notion of Dinozzi being a role model.

Nancy's voice was becoming calmer, just as Gibbs had hoped. "That's right."

"Is he a good big brother?"

"He's great, Mr. Gibbs. He comes over once a week or so. He and Ben go out. Ben never knew his father, and I thought it was important he have a man around. You know to do guy stuff with.

Gibbs smiled in spite of himself, "I'm sure that Tony excels at that."

"He's great, Mr. Gibbs. Tony really helps to keep Ben on track."

"That's great, Miss Morgan. Now I want to thank you for calling us. I'm sure it's nothing but we'll check on Agent Dinozzi. I'll tell him to give you a call later. Alright?"

"That would be great, Mr. Gibbs. I knew you'd know what to do. Tony always speaks so highly of you."

"He does?" It slipped out before Gibbs could stop it.

"He does." She said firmly. "Thank you so much."

"No, thank you, Miss Morgan." The phone clicked in his ear. For a moment, Gibbs sat, clutching the phone. He had that hollow feeling in his gut he got when someone on his team was in trouble.

He lifted his eyes to Kate. She just shook her head and kept dialing the number.

Hope you're not too disappointed in Tony's plans for the evening ;-)

To be continued....