Thanks for sticking with it – sorry it's been so long between the updates. Things are *almost* passing for normal around here again.

"Mr. Fornell?"

"How can I help you?" Fornell used his shoulder to hold his cell phone to his ear as he flipped through a file that had been placed on his desk by his secretary over his lunch break. He was hoping to wrap things up within the next 20 minutes – he had Emily for the first time in a few weeks, and he didn't want to take home any FBI work while he had her.

"This is Amanda Nielsen; I'm the principle at Edgewood Elementary school. Your daughter is a student here."

"What can I do for you?"

"I've just heard from her teacher that she didn't return after recess. Now, I don't want to cause complete panic – it wouldn't be the first time a child has gone missing, only to be found 20 minutes later hiding on the playground or in a bathroom, but I wan-"

"You don't want me to panic?" Fornell snapped the file shut. "Is my daughter missing, or not?"

"At this point and time-"

"Yes? Or No?"

"It seems as though she is… We have all the classrooms on lock down, and everyone is going over their attendance lists. And all other available staff is combing the school grounds to see if she's hiding. Is there any reason she would just take off? Out playgrounds are very well monitored, and if someone had taken her, kicking and screaming it would have been seen."

"Emily would never run away from school, she knows better than that!" Fornell grabbed his coat from the back of his chair and rushed from his office, past his secretary and out toward the parking lot. "Have you spoken to Diane yet?"

"No, I tried calling her at work, but they said she had the day off. I've been trying to reach her cell, but she isn't answering."

"She never answers the damn phone. I'll swing by and pick her up. I'll be there as soon as I can." Fornell flipped his phone shut and jumped in his car. It wasn't unusual that Diane didn't answer her cell phone. She often left it one room and then wandered to another and then didn't hear her quiet ringtone. When he wanted to speak to Emily he often had to call several times before she would answer – irritated at finding seven missed calls in the past five minutes.

It didn't take him long to fly down the streets toward Diane's house. Her car wasn't in the driveway, but on occasion she pulled it into the garage. He left the car running as he rushed up the front step to pound on her front door. After several moments he gave up and ran back to his car to head to Emily's school to see what he could do.

Mrs. Nielsen met him at the front door, "I'm sorry, we still haven't found her. I don't know how this could happen."

"You must have security footage?"

"Only for inside the building and the main section of the playground. No cameras cover the outer part of the field, and in the video you clearly see Emily heading out to the field with a soccer ball."

"Have you spoken to her friends? Did anyone see her leave?"

"No, none of the children remember seeing her leave. Several of her friends are out this week with the chicken pox, so she's been a little lost as far as who to play with outside."

Fornell glanced at his watch. "How long has she been gone?"

"Roughly 45 minutes."

"I'm calling the authorities."

"We've already called 911, sir."

Fornell glanced up before dialing his own office number. "I'm calling the FBI."

Gibbs was mid-conference with Vance when he received a frantic call from Fornell that Emily was missing. With little hesitation, Vance let Gibbs and his team pass their newest case to a different team in order to help out the FBI. Gibbs was fairly certain it had more to do with the fact that Vance had two children himself rather and feeling any sort of obligation to help the FBI.

He called Abby as he drove at a break-neck speed to get himself and his team to Emily's elementary school. He told her that he would keep her updated on any new information they came across, and that after Fornell, she would be first to know when Emily had been found.

Several of the FBI agents were already at the school, and they had set up a mobile command center in the school's auditorium. As the school day came to a close, several FBI agents were outside, handing out photocopies of Emily's photo with a number to a direct line at the FBI to parents as they picked up their children.

Fornell was relieved to see Gibbs on the case – if anyone understood the fear of losing a child, Gibbs was it.

"Hey," Gibbs placed his hand on Fornell's shoulder and gave a firm squeeze. "Fill us in on what you know."

Fornell gave them the basic rundown and Gibbs tried to think it through. "Have you spoken to Diane?"

"No, can't get a hold of her. Not answering her cell phone – most likely she's at an appointment and left her phone in the car, or at home."

"DiNozzo, McGee. I want you two at her house, go through her calendar, planner, whatever you can find and see if you can locate her. Emily has been spending a lot of time with her, maybe Emily mentioned something to her that could be useful." Gibbs turned to Ziva, "I want you to go back to NCIS and have Abby pull all traffic cams in a 5 mile radius from the school. Start checking back at 14:20. See if you can get eyes on her."

Gibbs team scattered and Gibbs turned back to his friend. "We'll find her."

Tony pulled up outside the address he had been given. "You realize that we're going into the lair of one of Gibbs' exes?"

"Tony, a child is missing."

"I know that, and I fully intend on working my hardest, but you've got to admit, McCurious, what would possess someone to marry Gibbs, and then Fornell?"

"It is kind of weird," McGee agreed as they made their way up the front step. "Hinky, as Abby would say."

"Speaking of Abby," Tony dropped to one knee and pulled out his lock-pick set. "She's been spending a lot of time with the boss."

"You know how she worries. We were all worried about him."

"We didn't all spend the night, over and over and over-"

"It's not like they were, you know…"

"How do you know?" Tony grinned up at McGee. "Boss has seemed a lot less stressed, if you catch my drift." The lock popped and the door swung open. "After you."

"I mean, I know they flirt, but you think Gibbs would really…?"

"Really, what, McGee? Have sex with her? Do the hanky-panky?" Tony couldn't help but tease as they made their way into the house. "McGee, do you wonder if he can still…" Tony used his finger to imply an erection.

"I…" McGee was at a loss for words.

"That's disgusting, McGoo." Tony slapped the back of McGee's head. "Stop thinking like that."

"But… but you…"

"Get to work." Tony left McGee in the front hallway. He called out a few times, double checking that Diane wasn't home, and then made his way to the kitchen. The food in the fridge was fresh, and the coffee maker was set to automatically go off later in the evening. A habit she must've picked up from Gibbs, he thought.

He found a calendar on the wall in the dining room and looked over the various activities penciled in. Mostly sports and school functions for Emily, a few doctor's appointments here and there, and then certain days were highlighted to indicate the nights Emily spent with Fornell. McGee stumbled upon a small pocket calendar and brought it over for Tony to compare.

"I'll have a look upstairs." McGee circled back through the kitchen to the stairs. He first entered the office, and booted up the computer. If he was lucky, Diane kept her phone synced with her computer and he could pull her whereabouts from there. As he waited on the computer, he peeked into Emily's room, the bathroom and then Diane's room. He wrinkled his nose when he peeked into the nightstand drawer and found several personal items.

Just before he was about to head back to the office, he decided to peek into the master bathroom. The room was a mess, the garbage over-flowing, one of the sinks on the double vanity had a steady drip. "Tony, come take a look at this."

"You find something?" Tony strode into the room a few minutes later. "Whoa, what a mess."

"I know." Tim nodded. "It's nothing like the rest of the house."

"Maybe she figures no one else will come in here, so she… what's that?" Tony pointed at a small pile of white powder and then pulled a glove from his pocket. "It looks… dusty. No, wait… look." Tony wiped his finger across the vanity and then brought it up to eye level. "What does that look like to you?"

McGee leaned in close. "Looks a little grainy. Like a pill that's been crushed."

Tony suddenly noticed a pill bottle half covered by a tissue. He grabbed the pill bottle and held it up for a closer look. "Holy shit."

"What?"

"Sinequan."

McGee gave him a blank look. "That means something?"

"Read the fine print, it's the brand name for doxepin hydrochloride."

"That's what… oooh."

"Go get the kit from the car; we need to get this to Abby. I'll call Gibbs." Tony dialed as McGee raced back to the car. Gibbs answered on the second ring with his standard gruff 'Gibbs'. "Boss, we've got a problem."

Abby paced the squad room as she waited for Tony and McGee to arrive with the sample for her to test. Tony hadn't found any other prescription pill bottles in the bathroom, but they needed to be sure of what the white power was before they made any firm accusations. Rather than waste time to sign the chain of evidence, Abby grabbed Tim by the sleeve and pulled him down to the lab with her so she could get started right away. It wasn't under the sample had been loaded into her trusty Major Mass Spec that she finally signed the chain of evidence log.

"You really think she would do it?"

"I don't know, I heard it was a bit of a messy divorce."

"That was over ten years ago. Why would she suddenly…?"

"It doesn't make sense." Gibbs strode into the lab without warning. "Except for when we ran into her after dinner, I haven't spoken to her in years."

Abby launched herself at Gibbs, wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug. "Any news on Emily?"

"No," Gibbs shook his head and returned the hug before turning to face McGee. "Did you guys find anything else suspicious?"

"No, we can't legally bring in her computer unless we have evidence, so if this comes back a match, then I can bring in her computer and see what I can dig up."

"Good work. Where is DiNozzo?"

"He found the number for a few different doctors. He and Ziva are making some phone calls. The label on the pill bottle was torn, so we can't see who prescribed it or when. If we can figure that out, maybe we can get a few questions answered."

Gibbs nodded and looked back at Abby. "How long?"

"I just loaded it. It's not a blind search to find out what it is; I'm running a simple match. We should have results in maybe fifteen minutes, twenty at most."

"I'll be upstairs. Let me know when you find out."

"We will." Abby watched Gibbs leave before speaking again. "I can't decide if I'll be relieved or not to find out if Diane was behind this all. On the upside, when kids are kidnapped by a parent, they are more likely to be found alive than if kidnapped by a stranger."

"It'd be nice to put a close to both cases."

Abby paced for the next fourteen minutes until Major Mass Spec beeped. As they had thought, it was a crushed doxepin hydrochloride pill. The same medication Gibbs had been drugged with.

Abby rushed up to the squad room, a print of out the results in hand. "It's a match, Gibbs. The white stuff Tony found is doxepin hydrochloride."

Gibbs took the paper and glanced over it. "McGee, Ziva, DiNozzo, I want the three of you back at her house, get a warrant and go through everything. Abby, can you try and get a fix on Diane's cell phone?"

"Yes." Abby edged around Gibbs and sat at his desk, pulling up the programs needed. Her fingers moved furiously across the keyboard as she worked on locating Diane. "She's on the interstate. Heading north! Traffic is slow; she looks to be about 48 miles north of here."

Ziva, McGee and Tony piled into the elevator, and Gibbs moved behind Abby to get his badge, gun and jacket. "Keep an eye on her location for me. I'm going to pick up Fornell and have the FBI set up a road block. Let me know if anything changes."

"Be careful, Gibbs. She nearly killed you once; I don't want her to get the chance to try again."

"She won't," Gibbs leaned in for a kiss - a possessive kiss that left Abby breathless. "I gotta go, Abbs. I'll be back in a bit." He pressed his lips to her cheek. "Love you." He was gone before she could respond.

Fornell was in the car before Gibbs to come to a complete stop. "Drive."

For once Gibbs did was Fornell asked without questioning him first. He pressed his foot the gas pedal and peeled out of the school parking lot.

"What do you know?"

"DiNozzo found residue of doxepin hydrochloride, it's what was used to drug me. Abby has a fix on her cell phone, it's turned on and she's headed north. I don't know for sure that she has Emily, but it looks as though she could be on the run."

"It would make sense. Emily would have no problem getting in the car with her if she pulled up outside of school."

Gibbs nodded.

"If she did try to take her, I'm filing for full custody immediately. I won't let me daughter spend another day under her roof."

"If she's found guilty of drugging me, I don't think you'll have a problem."

"True." Fornell glanced over at the speedometer and winced at their slow speed once they hit rush hour. "I should have paid more attention. Em has been talking about Diane and how she's seemed different lately, spending lots of time on the phone with her doctor – all warning signs."

"You'd think we were divorced long enough that she'd focus the hate on you rather than me." Gibbs had had enough of the slow speed. He pulled a light from the glove box and reach out the window to place it on top of the car. With lights flashing, he pulled out onto the shoulder and sped past the rest of the cars.

"You didn't have to put the light on for my benefit. I know you don't usually bother to use it."

"I've got an FBI agent in my car. I might as well follow the law."

As they sped up the interstate, Gibbs pulled out his cell and hit speed dial to call Abby.

"Gibbs?"

"Abbs, you've still got a fix on her car?"

"Yeah, she's just past exit 114. Hold on, I'm adding your cell phone. I can tell how far away you are." Abby was quiet a moment as she waited for the program to locate Gibbs position. "Okay, I've got you. You're approximately 24 miles behind her."

"Okay, let me know when we're a mile behind her. I don't want to scare her with the lights. I want to get past her and then force her to stop."

"I will. Be safe."

Gibbs clicked his phone shut. "We're about 24 miles behind her, shouldn't be long."

"I'll get some people up ahead of her." Fornell pulled out his cell phone and dialed the FBI. "But I want to be the one to talk to her."

They drove on in silence, the adrenaline kicking in as they mentally sorted through their options. About twenty minutes later, Abby called back.

"You're about two miles behind her. She's been moving at a pretty steady pace. I've been trying to hack into to the DOT traffic cams to see if I can get an eye on her, but so far I've got nothing."

"Okay." Gibbs turned off the flashing lights, as he continued to make his way up the shoulder past the rest of the cars. "Call me if she exits the freeway."

"I will."

Gibbs hung up again. As they continued along the interstate, Fornell recognized Diane's car and Gibbs slowly maneuvered the car so that they were directly in front of her. She was wearing dark sunglasses and had a hat on. At first there was no sight of Emily, but then they saw movement in the back seat, and there was no doubt that Emily was in the car. Gibbs slowed to a complete stop causing Diane to stop as well. Traffic was moving slow enough that she didn't realize that she was being stopped for anything beside traffic until both Gibbs and Fornell jumped out of the car, with their guns in hand.

Two other cop cars managed to maneuver up alongside them. Diane looked panicked as they slowly approached the car. They approached the car cautiously and with a stroke of luck, they managed to jump out of the way as Diane stepped on the gas and the car lurched forward into the car Gibbs' had driven.

"Diane!" Fornell raised his gun. "Don't make this ugly."

Diane rolled down the window. "You're poisoning my daughter, turning her against me!"

"Diane," Fornell warned. "I'm not doing anything to hurt your relationship with Emily. Get out of the car, we can go talk this over."

"No. I'm getting tired of talking. It doesn't do any good. And he started it all, feeding you lies you were dumb enough to believe." Diane lifted her hand from her lap.

"Whoa. Don't do anything stupid." Fornell and Gibbs both backed up a step when Diane showed she had a gun. "Think of Emily, you don't want her to see anything."

"Emily is fine, aren't you honey?"

Gibbs couldn't hear what she said, but they heard Emily's voice from the back seat.

"Diane, come on. You aren't going anywhere. Hand over the gun, and we'll go talk and settle this." Gibbs started forward, hoping she would hand the gun out of the window.

"You think I'm dumb enough to think we can all sit down and work this out? Let me go." She waved the gun as she spoke.

"I can't let you do that, not with Emily in the car." Gibbs kept calm. "Why don't you let Emily out, and then I'll see what I can do."

"I'm not giving my girl to you. You can't replace the daughter you lost."

"Diane!" Fornell snapped, "let me see my daughter."

"She's not your daughter. You don't want her; you never had time for us. That will never change. You just want to keep her away from me."

"No Diane, that's not true. I'd never keep you from her; I just want to spend time with her too."

"Daddy!" Emily called from the back seat.

"It's okay babygirl. I'm right here." Fornell took a step toward the car.

"NO! You stay away from her!"

"You can't keep me from my daughter, Diane. You know that."

"I can and I will!" Diane pointed her gun at him again, her hand visibly shaking. "Leave us alone, Tobias."

"I can't do that, you know I can't."

"I can help you." Diane pulled the trigger.

As soon as Fornell went down, Gibbs fired his own weapon, putting a bullet into Diane's arm, causing her to drop the gun. He kicked it backwards toward the group of cops rushing in and then pulled open the back door, pulling Emily from the car.

"Daddy!" She screamed at the sight of her father on the cement.

At the sound of his daughter's voice, Fornell managed to push himself into a seated position. One of the local cops was at his side with a first aid kit, pressing a wad of gauze against his shoulder. "I'm alright, I'm alright."

Emily wriggled free from Gibbs and ran to her father. "Does it hurt daddy?"

"No, no. I'll be okay."

Gibbs glanced back at the car, where two officers had helped Diane to the ground and were tending to her wound as well. He kept himself in front of the scene, blocking Emily's view.

"Ambulances are on their way." Another cop stepped up beside Gibbs. "You part of the FBI?'

Gibbs raised an eyebrow. "Me? No, he is. I'm NCIS."

"What?"

Gibbs gave his best glare and the cop walked away.

Abby grabbed the phone as soon as it rang. "Gibbs? Is everything okay?"

"Ms. Sciuto? It's Vance. I just received a call from the FBI. Things got a little intense, and there was a shooting on the interstate. No fatalities, but everyone involved is being taken to Bethesda."

"Gibbs?"

"I wasn't given any names, but I thought you might want to meet them all there."

"Thank you!" Abby hung up on the director and grabbed her purse before racing to the elevator. Her stomach twisted with worry as she made the drive to Bethesda medical center. She parked and then rushed to the emergency room. "Agent Gibbs, I'm looking for Agent Gibbs."

"I'm sorry ma'am, I don't see…"

"Agent Fornell?"

Abby spun in a circle, looking for anyone she recognized or anyone in police or FBI uniform. "There was a shooting on the interstate. I heard they were coming here."

"Oh," The nurse nodded. They should be here in about four minutes. We've got people meeting the ambulances in bay one. If you wait here, they should come through this way."

Abby paced in front of the nurse's station, her clunky boots echoing in the hallway. She heard the sirens as the ambulance approached and she tried not to cry as she worried over who was hurt and how bad. She saw Diane first as she was wheeled in and into an open room, she was awake and bitching about her two sorry excuses for ex-husbands.

Next it was Fornell that was wheeled in. He wasn't talking, but she could see his face and he was awake. "Fornell!" She rushed to his side and picked up his hand. "Did you find Emily?"

"Yeah. She's alright. Scared though, will you watch her?"

"Of course, where is she?"

"She should be coming in right behind me."

Abby looked down the hall and out the double doors in time to see Gibbs helping the little girl from the back of the ambulance. "I see her."

"Miss, we need to get him set up for a doctor."

"Okay." Abby gave his hand a quick squeeze and then started down the hall toward Gibbs and Emily. She fought to keep her emotions in check as she neared Gibbs and Emily. The little girl ran forward and wrapped her arms around Abby's waist in a tight hug. "Hey sweetie," Abby ran her fingers through the girls hair.

She looked over Gibbs, her eyes going wide at the sight of blood all over his shirt.

"No, it's not mine." He looked down at Emily hoping she would understand that it was Fornell's so he didn't have to say it in front of the girl.

"Oh."

"I'll see if I can get a clean top." Gibbs stepped close to her and gripped her arms, holding them at her side so she couldn't hug him and accidentally transfer Fornell's blood to her clothes. He leaned forward and kissed her, pulling away so that he could make eye contact before leaning in to kiss her again. "See if you can take her to see her Tobias real quick and then take her home."

"You're staying here?"

"I need to. I called Tony on the way here, and he's on his way over."

Abby knew better than to argue over a case. Technically Gibbs wasn't supposed to work the case since he was the victim of Diane's rage, but by bringing Tony in to officially run the case, Gibbs could work it from the background. Abby watched Gibbs walk toward an incoming group of cops, so she directed Emily back to the nurse's station.

"Tobias Fornell is her father, is there any way she can see him real quick before I take her home?"

"Let me check." The nurse disappeared into the room that Fornell had been wheeled into a few minutes before. She wasn't in long before she came back. "You can go in for a few minutes. It was a through and through. They'll stitch him up and keep him over-night."

Abby took Emily's hand and led her into the room. Fornell seemed to be resting comfortably and despite the large white gauze over his shoulder, he looked fine.

"Daddy!" Emily rushed forward.

"Hey babygirl," Fornell reached out and took Emily's hand. "I'm okay, don't worry okay? Abby is going to look after you okay?" He glanced up at Abby.

"Yeah, I'll take her home. I've got a wii and several games that we can play. Maybe we could order pizza for dinner?"

Emily glanced up at Abby. "Really?"

"Sure. I might even have ice cream in my freezer."

"Wow, it's like a party." Fornell smiled.

"Are you hurt badly, daddy?"

"No, sweetie. It's just a little scratch, but they want me to spend the night to give me some medicine so that it will heal super quick."

"Okay." Emily was eased by his answer.

"Well, we'd better get going." Abby took Emily's hand again and started toward the door. Emily exited first and Abby turned back. "Would you like me to call Sharon?"

"Please. You have her number?"

"I work for NCIS, I can get her number."

"It must be the building. Everyone who works there is always so damn cocky." Fornell rolled his eyes. "Tell her I'll be alright, and that I will call her tomorrow."

"I will. Take care, Fornell." Abby slipped out the door and walked Emily down the hall and out to her car. Abby called to check with McGee to see if it would be okay for Emily to go into her room and get her pj's, her favorite stuffed animal and a change of clothes for the next day. He agreed, and Abby put Diane's address into her GPS and drove Emily over. Ziva took Emily upstairs to her room and Abby stood in the middle of the living room with McGee as he sorted through a box of papers. She explained everything she knew, and they spoke in hushed voices in case Emily could hear them. When Ziva brought the girl back down, Abby took her back to the car and they stopped to pick up a pizza on the way back to Abby's apartment.

Emily asked a few times about how exactly the doctors would fix her dad, but she didn't once mention her mother. Abby was curious as to how much, exactly, she had seen, but she decided not to push it, in case the girl got upset. It would be easier for her to handle if her father was there to comfort her. They played wii, and watched a movie on the Disney channel before Emily fell asleep on the couch, curled around her stuffed puppy.

TBC…