DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NCIS OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS!

Ch2

Tim closed his eyes to calm his thoughts, to center on what direction to go. There were so many directions he felt himself being pulled. Instinctively he pulled out his phone and called the one person he had learned to trust, though it had taken him time to accept his boss's guidance.

"Gibbs," was the answer he knew to expect.

"Boss, I need your help," Tim uttered.

Hearing the underlying desperation in his agent's voice Gibbs simply asked, "Where are you? I'm on my way."

"NCIS," Tim breathed, a sense of ease beginning to form knowing he'd have support in minutes. The line was ended, so he made his next call to his partner.

"DiNozzo," the senior field agent answered on the third ring, clearly not thrilled to be disturbed from whatever he was doing.

Tim cringed at the clipped tone, but knew Tony would quickly forgive him and be on his six in a moment. "Sorry to interrupt Tony, but something's happened to Sarah," he explained.

"What do you need?" Tony asked. Tim could hear him moving around preparing to leave wherever he was at.

"She's missing. I need to find her. I traced her cell phone to the campus, but she's not answering. Would you go out there and see what you can find? I'm waiting for Gibbs now. I'll call Ziva and ask her to meet up with you and help out."

"I'll call her. You do what you can on that end. As soon as we find anything we'll call and update you."

Swallowing a newly formed lump in his throat, Tim thanked Tony and hung up. Holding his head in his hands, grateful for the quick support of his teammates, but wanting answers NOW, he began checking Sarah's phone for past messages, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

When he finished that search he heard the arrival of Gibbs as the elevator dinged. Gibbs quickly strolled in, cell phone to his ear, "Just get here as soon as you can. Like yesterday!" He flipped the phone closed and turned all his attention on Tim, "What have you learned?"

"Not much, Boss," Tim admitted dejectedly. "Tony and Ziva should be at the campus by now looking for any sign of her."

"That's good," Gibbs gripped Tim's shoulder as a sign of support. "Fornell is on his way."

Tim's eyebrows rose. "Why did you call him?" The fear of the reality of needing the FBI's assistance made a cold shiver run up his spine.

"Best to have him on hand, if it's what it appears to be. You sense it yourself," Gibbs eyed his young agent almost daring him to deny it.

Tim acknowledged his agreement with a nod. He didn't want to voice it, as if saying it or even thinking Sarah had been abducted would make it true, rather than just another one of the silly accidents common to befall his sister. Let alone another incident like the last which made her look guilty of murder.

The irony didn't escape Gibbs, how Tim had tried to help Sarah on his own, hiding things from even him during that case. Of course it was during that investigation Tim learned how much the team could work together, so it pleased Gibbs that Tim didn't hesitate this time to reach out to them. Together they were going to find Sarah and bring justice down on the guilty party.

Tim's hand reached to grab his phone as it began to ring, "McGee."

"Tim, it is Ziva. We found Sarah's phone," she paused before adding, "and her books."

A rock seemed to weigh on his chest as Tim labored to take a breath. The fear firmly knotted itself in his gut. "Where?" he managed to croak out.

"They are on campus a half block from her dorm near an alley," Ziva tried to draw a picture without the worst scenario being seen.

"Did you check the alley?" Tim asked stonily a hand now massaging his temple.

"Tony is checking for evidence, but nothing obvious is there," she hoped to waylay the worry a little if he knew at least for now that his sister could still be alive.

The news did ease some of the tension, but far from all of it. Sarah was still missing and all the unknowns of what could be being done to her still lingered. When he hung up Gibbs was talking quietly face to face with Fornell.

"Tobias, it's got to be related," Gibbs' gut hadn't quit since he answered Tim's call.

"We don't know that Jethro. We'll check it out," Fornell felt his friend was probably right, but he couldn't call in all the guns without more cause.

"Tony and Ziva already discovered where she was taken from. We need to move and find where she's been taken to!" Gibbs was holding nothing back. He had to rely on his sometime nemesis to lead this investigation, since it wasn't technically under his jurisdiction. Not that he was always one to follow all the rules. This time Gibbs knew who had more information to help lead them to Sarah's abductor.

The FBI had the evidence from the five previous cases and he wouldn't stand for Sarah to become the sixth in that file.

"Fine. I'll send copies of the files and all the forensics, ASAP." Fornell pulled out his phone to do exactly that while Gibbs turned to check how Tim was holding up.