It had been a calm week, all things considered. The ensuing Friday, however, he had been in bed for maybe half an hour when the sound of his cell phone rang in his ear. Assuming that it was an important work call, but not registering the call display, the half-asleep combat veteran forced himself to sit up and answer it. "Gibbs."

"Dad." The way Kelly spoke his name caused him to freeze. Her nervousness was more prevalent and her tone was sombre. What she said next caused him to start panicking himself. "Paisley's not doing well."

Jethro was struggling to keep his voice calm while inside the seasoned combat veteran was freaking out. Him panicking wasn't going to do his daughter or granddaughter any good. "What's going on?" Shannon sat up in bed, eying him with a mix of curiosity and concern. Eyeing his wife, he mouthed an explanation. "It's Paisley."

"I don't know," Kelly said frantically. "She had a low-grade fever earlier but Mikey and I just had to rush her to the ER at Inova."

Jethro put the phone on speakerphone and started getting dressed. He fully intended to go support his daughter. "Why? What happened?"

"They don't know," Kelly replied shakily. "Out of the blue, it's just... her fever spiking, windpipe swelling shut. She's in the ICU now."

He swallowed the lump in his throat as he buttoned up his shirt. "I'm on my way."

"You don't have to come," Kelly started. "I just…."

"I know, Princess." Jethro quickly put his sneakers on. "I want to be there." Wrapping up the phone call, he eyed his wife who was now throwing on some clothes.

His wife shot him a pointed look. "I'm coming with."

He dipped his head slightly. "I assumed as much."

Once the redhead was ready, the pair both headed downstairs. After leaving a note for his still sleeping father, he and Shannon hopped into his wife's car and made the drive down to Inova Alexandria Hospital to support their daughter and son-in-law.

It felt like one of the longest drives in his life; he couldn't get there soon enough.

There wasn't much that they could do at the hospital besides try to reassure Kelly and Michael, but they did try and encourage the pair to get some rest. The worst part was not being able to help Paisley. She'd been isolated as they had no idea what she had or if it was contagious.

Around 0600, he got several calls from the Naval Medical Research Centre as well as General Ellison that made it perfectly clear that the current situation was much more serious than they had initially thought. Paisley wasn't the only Military Brat in the DMV to be admitted to the hospital with her symptoms that day. They wanted to work with the MCRT, trying to figure out just what the children had, while his team attempted to either locate Patient Zero or whoever was causing those kids to fall sick. After talking extensively with his family, it was agreed he'd join his team at work. His daughter made it clear that she felt better knowing he was on the case, helping to figure out what was going on with Paisley. As for Shannon, she'd called in sick and readily agreed to take care of Mason and let the two young parents focus on their very ill child.

Once he arrived at the Navy Yard he met with Carol from the Naval Medical Research Centre who would be working with his team. They needed to be on the same page as to how to proceed. Once that was done, they made their way down to the squad room, Jethro already halfway done with his third cup of coffee that morning.

His team was having a serious chat so Jethro held back for a moment, standing in the acoustic hotspot that allowed him to hear his team's conversation.

He watched as McGee, looking more than a little worried, hung up his desk phone.

"Trouble in paradise, Tiny Tim?" DiNozzo asked.

"Well, not for us. A friend of ours, the Dalys…" McGee sighed. "Kevin gets home from Afghanistan last night and the first thing he and Audrey have to do is rush their five-year-old daughter to the ER."

"Why?" Abby asked. "What happened?"

"They don't know," McGee explained. "Completely of the blue, it's just... fever spiked, windpipe swelled shut. Emma's in the ICU now."

Ziva's expression softened. "That's horrible."

He started walking towards the group, Carol following his lead.

"Yeah," Abby agreed. "What's worse than a sick kid during the holidays?"

"Nine sick kids," he chimed in.

Abby turned around right after Jethro spoke and quickly spotted her long-time friend. "Carol." The goth gave a little chuckle. "What are you doing here?" She leaned down and gave Carol a peck on the cheek.

Carol eyed her sadly. "I wish it was a social call, Abby."

Abby's expression shifted. "Oh, it's never good when you say that."

"Boss, did you say nine sick kids?"

He nodded. "All with the same mystery illness, all within thirty miles of D.C."

"Start of an epidemic?"

"Or worse," Carol countered. "All are from Military families and all but one are living in military housing."

"No," DiNozzo said. "No. Nobody say it."

Abby sighed. "Bioterror."

"Except Abby," DiNozzo said. "Abby can say it but nobody else."

"I've seen this before," Ziva said. "What better way to terrorize military personnel than through their kids?"

DiNozzo shot the young Israeli a look. "There's nothing better about it. I know enough about bioterror as it is, thank you."

Carol eyed the group pointedly. "All we need to know in this case is what it is, where it started and how to stop it."

McGee eyed carol. "You said 'we'."

Carol nodded. "Uh-huh."

Jethro decided to address his team. "It's not our usual case, but it is Navy and Marine Corps families. They want us in on the investigation."

"While I work the scientific end with Abby," Carol elaborated. "We're coordinating with the CDC." The field agents all nodded. "My office is sending all our data here."

Abby turned to Carol once more. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go."

He addressed his team again. "Alright, split up." I want this solved yesterday. "Hit the hospitals, interview the parents, talk to the kids, retrace their steps." He turned in the direction of the stairs. "Let's go."

DiNozzo tilted his head slightly. "You alright, Boss?"

"No, Tony." He fought to keep his tone level. "One of those kids is Paisley."

Forcing himself to focus, he headed into the conference room for some privacy, calling his boss to discuss the situation. The slightly younger man was still at home with his wife and kids given the time.

Jethro explained the situation as best as he could to the director, even informing the man about the situation with his granddaughter. He needed the man to allow him a bit of extra leeway as far as resources went. Thankfully, the man agreed. Not that Jethro was overly concerned about that as the man was a father himself. "Absolutely, Gibbs. Whatever manpower we can spare."

"Thanks," he said. "We'll be clocking a lot of hours though, Director."

Vance was actually more than fine with that for once. "Yeah, well, let's find out what's making these kids..." The man stopped talking and Jethro could overhear Jackie, Kayla and Jared's voices as they walked into the room. "Let's do what we can."

As the call ended, Jethro sighed and dialled his daughter's cellphone number to talk to her and see how she and Michael were holding up. After which, he said a silent prayer for his granddaughter as well as the other children. Paisley turns two today; the poor kid deserves so much better than this.

Jethro's gut feeling was already telling him that things were going to get worse before they got better. It was going to be a rough next few days.