Disclaimer: Still not mine...

A/N: SORRY! This took way too long. Don't you just hate it how you know exactly you're gonna start and end the chapter but the characters wont do what you want them to to get there? LOL! This was the hardest to write cuz there's a bunch of back-plot to create and remember, hehe. Enjoy! Hopefully the next one wont take so long!

It had taken the rest of the afternoon and evening for the NCIS to gather everything in the Garret case file. They had only just begun to scratch the surface when Tony, Ziva, and McGee fell victim to the physical and emotional exhaustion from the past day. Tony was folded across his desk, breathing deeply, Ziva was on the floor beneath her desk.. McGee had been asleep at his desk, but it was next to impossible to get any rest with Ziva snoring like a buzzsaw 5 feet away. How Tony was managing to sleep, he'd never know.

McGee groaned and glared over in Ziva's direction. He looked down at his watch and sighed somberly. It was three in the morning. He rubbed his tired eyes and he felt his stomach tighten once more. Twenty-four hours has passed since his Abby had been stolen away from him. The investigator in him knew that the chances of finding a kidnap victim alive drop to almost nothing after the first 48 hours...their time was half-way up.

McGee stood up slowly. He couldn't stay in that squadroom, he had to get out of there. He crossed quietly to the elevator, careful not to disturb his teammates, and pushed the down button. The door opened and when he entered, McGee pressed for the level where he felt most comfortable...most at home.

The cold, silver doors opened to reveal Abby's immaculate lab. McGee slowly exited the elevator and peered around the front corner as he had done so many times before. He groaned sadly when he saw Abby's court clothes, still hanging on the filing cabinent where Abby dropped it off yesterday afternoon. He walked over to it sadly, feeling like he would be sick again.

"Hold on Abs," McGee whispered, running his fingers across the soft material on the sleeve. "Hold on baby, we're coming."

McGee slowly walked toward Abby's office, and he stretched out on Abby's couch that sat opposite her desk. He sighed deeply, taking in the smells around him. He could smell her gunpowder perfume, the chemicals she uses in her tests, her aromatherapy candles...each completely distinct, and each distinctly Abby. Feeling slightly comforted, McGee closed hs eyes and soon drifted off to sleep.

Two hours later, McGee startled awake by a buzzing in his back pocket. Realizing it was his phone, he sat up and pulled it out.

"McGee," he answered.

"Tim, where are you?" Tony asked, sounding slightly worried.

"I'm in the lab, couldn't sleep upstairs," McGee explained.

"Well get up here."

"On my way."

Tony hung up the phone and glanced down at Ziva, still sound asleep and snoring away. It took Tony calling her name several times to get her to stir awake.

"Ziva, get the Garrett crime scene photos up on the plasma," Tony said. "McGee's on his way up and we need to get started."

After taking several minutes each in the bathroom to freshen up as much as possible, all three team members were seated around Tony's desk, folders and pictures scattered all across it. Tony, Ziva, and McGee each grabbed a handful of documents and began studying feverishly in silence, occasionally glancing over their their neighbor's pile for comparison.

"So," Tony started, "here's where it all starts I guess." He pulled out from his stack a picture of a beautiful, red haired woman and laid it out for all to see. "Petty Officer Kara Monaghan, 24 years old, was found beaten to death one mile away from this--" Tony clicked the picture up to the plasma--" abandoned home in the woods outside of Norfolk. The home was clean, but it looked like it had been abandoned recently."

Rifling through her papers, Ziva added, "The house was co-owned by a Benjamin and Jonathan Masterson. They were questioned then released. They were both away in North Carolina at the estimated time of death...plenty of confirmed witnesses."

McGee now leaned forward, clicking the remote and a familiar picture flashed on the plasma screen. "The Petty Officer had been seen dating Howard Garrett, our scuzz ball. She was found wearing a 4.3 karat diamond ring, and witnesses confirmed that Garrett had given that very ring and several more very expensive pieces of jewlery. Garrett had a blue collar job and wouldn't have been able to afford those kind of gifts normally."

They continued on re-investigating and re-hashing the case file for several more hours, alternating staring at photos on Tony's desk and up at the plasma screen. It was mid-afternoon, and Tony's, Ziva's, and McGee's heads were beginning to throb, their eyes blurry. A much needed break in their concentration came when the elevator dinged open and Ducky walked into the squadroom.

"Hey Ducky," McGee said, rubbing the tension from the bridge of his nose.

"Hello Timothy," Ducky replied solemnly, patting his shoulder. "What's all this?"

"The Garrett case file," Ziva replied.

At Ducky's quizzical look Tony explained, "Abby's kidnappers contacted us last night."

"Good Lord!" Ducky exclaimed. "Is she all right? Were you able to speak to her?"

McGee's eyes darkened. "No, she was in the background. We could hear her screaming..."

Ducky rubbed his face and groaned. "Oh Abigail...those bastards."

Tony, fighting his own tightening stomach, trudged forward, "They didn't identify themselves, and all they said was that we needed to re-examine the Garrett case file. So, here we are."

"Would you mind if I joined in? I could possibly add a different perspective."

"Of course, Doctor," Ziva said, rising from her seat for Ducky to take.

Grabbing another chair, Ziva moved next to McGee, touching him lightly on the wrist in comfort as she sat. Apprising Ducky to the higher points of the case, Tony showed Ducky the case file pictures.

"Ah yes, the ring," the Scotsman breathed, looking up at the picture on the plasma. "I remember it quite well. It had traces of blood and a white substance within the prongs of the band. The substance, of course, turned out to be cocaine. The poor girl had defensive wounds and scratch marks all over her arms, all of which tested positive for traces of cocaine as well. She had an abundance of skin cells under her nails. The blood found on the ring and the DNA under her nails belonged to, as you all known, that Howard Garrett fellow."

"The Petty Officer had suspected that Garrett was cheating on her," Ziva added. "Her friends told us that Kara was upset that Garrett was being secretive and cancelling plans. Her best friend had last heard from her when Kara was going to follow Garrett to prove he was seeing someone else. She never returned home."

"We put a BOLO out on Garrett and got a hit for someone matching his description in a small neighborhood in Norfolk," Tony continued. "We broke in and found him in his basement, standing over a desk huge pile of cocaine."

"Very 'Scarface'," McGee said aloud, looking down.

"Hey," Tony said, smiling wide, "I'm the one who does the movie thing."

McGee chuckled lightly and continued, "Abby had done the bloodwork, DNA analysis, and the drug identification of the cocaine in the Petty Officer's ring, her wounds, and tied Garrett to the body and murder. It was an air-tight conviction."

Night had fallen, and the team knew every intricate detail of the Garrett case, but had no idea what it had to do with Abby...or how it could help get her back. Tony had sent McGee home to sleep and Ducky had offered to travel with his as far down as his morgue.

"How are you holding up Timothy?" Ducky asked in the elevator.

"I'm a wreck Ducky, I'm not going to lie," McGee replied, sighing heavily. "It's been two days."

"I know, but you've got to have faith. You and this team are the greatest investigators I have had the pleasure to work with. And who better to help Abigail than the crack team with a personal vendetta? We're going to find her and bring her home."

"I don't know if I'll able to sleep tonight," McGee muttered.

"Try though, you need to keep your stength and wits about you. However, I doubt I will be able to myself, so you give me a ring if you need to," Ducky offered, smiling genially. The elevator slowed to a stop at the morgue and the doors opened.

"Good night, Timothy."

"Night Ducky."

Alone, and now traveling down to the parking lot, couldn't shake Abby's terrified shrieks from his mind. He hadn't been there to protect her, and now she was scared and in pain, and McGee was lost. He didn't know what he would do if he ever lost her...he wouldn't be able to survive without her.

He made his way towards his car, and his ears pricked when he heard a rustling to his right. He cut his eyes to see what it was but he couldn't see anything. After a few more feet, he heard it again. This time he turned fully to the right, his hand on top of his holstered pistol. McGee breated a huge sigh and chuckled at himself when he saw the source of the noise...a chipmunk running through the grass.

He began to turn back toward his car, but he never got all the way around. White lights exploded in his vision as his head burst out in pain. He swayed dangerously, but gravity took over and McGee hit the pavement.

And everything went black.