Well lovies, here I am again, bearing my promised second chapter! I'm so glad that everyone seems to like this story…it's actually turning out better than I thought it would…OH! And you all should go read my story Don't Ever Let It End…especially if you LOVE Tiva, that also came out a lot better than I had thought it would.

Thanks:

1Styx and Stones1

psych-out-girl

Clairebear (A Tiva follower…we'll see about your request :)

aoki-reiko

Bada-bing…so has anybody seen War Horse yet? I LOVE the book so much, me and Clover are going to see it Monday…or Sunday…or Saturday…can you tell we haven't set a date yet? OOH, and how about Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol? I want to see that to. We like romance, action, historical (alright, I like that more than her, but she'll watch one with me.) Sorry, I'm rambling LIKE DUCKY!

Snapshot: A flare lighting up the sky in front of the rising sun.

Early the next morning, Gibbs' cellular device rang at an ungodly volume, making the people who remained in the office of NCIS wonder whether he was deaf or something.

His gruff bark into the phone probably made someone jerk in surprise, but this didn't really seem to bother him. He listened to the voice on the other end of the phone for a second then said, "I'll be right there."

He slammed his phone shut then stalked towards the elevator, cursing this entire case for the millionth time since it began…sixteen hours ago. It seemed like so much longer.

While Gibbs heading for his destination, Tony and Agent Tatyanna Rodríguez had reached theirs with several gallons of coffee, several changes of clothes, and sixty-three fresh searchers, all rearing and ready to go.

"Last night we mainly concentrated out search in the woods around the house, breaking it up into eight sectors," Tony addressed the crowd through a mega phone…which made him feel very empowered, not that he would ever share that with anybody, "but today we're not only going to search the wooded area but some of the old mine shafts that run parallel to the house from the east," he paused and pointed to the side of the house Tim had disappeared from, "and to the south. You've all been assigned your teams and gotten the description of the suspect we're looking for as well as pictures of our missing agents. If you have any questions, ask AgentRodríguez or myself."

The two agents watched as the parties dispersed. Each group had seven people in it with a total of nine groups. Four groups were searching the woods; each one had two designated sectors to search as well as a tunnel to report to in case of emergency. There was one tunnel, the East tunnel, which would take three of the remaining parties, it went in about a quarter of a mile then split off into three different paths. The South tunnel would require the remaining two groups; it split about three miles in. There were also four deputies from various counties as well as a couple D.C. sent police officers to act as fill-ins for the search parties should they be needed. Tony and Rodríguez, as well as some of the local law enforcement people would take turns joining different groups and manning home base which was located at the house itself.

Set up in a tent around back, it had good views of the land all around and would be the best place to spot a flare.

There were three flare colors, red, yellow, and green. The red signaled some sort of distress; a body had been located, the suspect had been located and was giving some sort of resistance, some new evidence had been found, or there was some sort of injury amongst the searchers. Basically, if a red flare was spotted, a group of officers were needed. Yellow meant that the team was asking to come in for some reason, whether to refuel or to take a short break. Yellow wasn't really used all that often. Green was Tony's favorite; it meant something was finally going right for them. It meant that Tim and Ziva had been found alive and unhurt or that the bad guy had been found and gave in to the searchers.

Red was bad. Yellow was unimportant. Green was good. At least that's what it all boiled down to.

Sighing in annoyance, Tony reread his maps, the BOLOs, chugged down too-hot coffee, burning his mouth, esophagus (that's near your throat, right?), and everything all the way down to his toes. Looking at the two pictures of Tim and Ziva, he would have roared with laughter at McGee's picture; he looked sort of like the first time he met Abby, terrified, completely caught off guard, and surprised all rolled into one Probie-Package. Abby…maybe he should call her and check in later. Ziva just looked hot…as usual.

Cracking his knuckles, he dropped the stack of papers on the table and gave himself a mental shake as he surveyed the valley around him. None of thoughts that had been meandering around his brain recently would help anyone be found.

"Where are those extra maps?" he called out, throwing himself full force into the work ahead, hoping that it might help him forget…for a little while at least.

"We thought you'd like to know," the doctor finished. This doctor was several years older and had a lot more self esteem as well as people skills then the one who had originally briefed Gibbs about the two girls.

The two gray headed men walked slowly down the hallway, pausing at the door of the younger girl, "Can I see her?" Gibbs asked.

The doctor nodded, "A woman from child services is in there now, but I don't see any reason why you can't drop in."

With a nod of thanks, Gibbs gently pushed the door back, listening for the sound of the little girl's voice along with the overly sugary-sweet voice of the child services lady.

"Wouldn't you like to have a new mommy and daddy…and maybe some new brothers or sisters?"

The little girl hadn't seen him yet, so Gibbs stood silently watching the exchange. The little girl was sitting up with her skinny knees drawn up to her chest, her back pressed against the railing of the bed, as far away from the woman as possible. She was astutely sucking her thumb and her bright blue eyes regarded the woman with unguarded suspicion. She looked better, Gibbs thought, someone had given her a thorough scrubbing and her shiny brown hair hung in innocent waves to just below her shoulders.

Almost at the exact same time, the woman and girl noted Gibbs. One jumped and one didn't.

"May I ask who you are and what you are doing here?" The woman demanded, standing up aggressively.

"Agent Gibbs, ma'am. My team and I found the girls and I wanted to see how they were doing," Flashing his badge, Gibbs smiled at the girl.

The woman's face lit up, "So you found Lacey and Megan."

Gibbs face showed that he obviously wasn't in on the name thing, so the woman explained, holding up a sheet of paper, "She won't talk to anyone. At all. The most I've gotten out of her is this."

Taking the piece of paper, Gibbs almost smiled at the childish writing that spelled out two names, Lacey and Megin.

"We're assuming that she doesn't know how to spell Megan," the woman said, snatching the paper back. "I'm Celine Carlton by the way."

"What's going to happen to these two?" Gibbs asked.

"A foster home for Lacey and we'll see about Megan…if she doesn't die that is."

Gibbs was really starting to not like this woman. She talked about things that the kid really didn't need to know right in front of her like she was deaf or something…and she was obviously upsetting her.

"Can we continue this in the hallway?" Gibbs asked in his most controlled voice.

"We'll be right back honey," Ms. Carlton smiled at Lacey. Lacey's face had relaxed back into her emotionless mask and didn't change.

Once in the hallway, Gibbs took a deep breath, not really believing what he was about to say, "I'd like to volunteer to be Lacey's guardian for the time being."

Ms. Carlton looked more than slightly surprised, "What- why, if I may ask, would you want to do that."

In her job, Celine Carlton had met a lot of people who like kids, a lot who didn't, plenty that shouldn't be allowed to reproduce, and some that screamed I-am-NOT-a-kid-person…but Gibbs didn't seem like the type that would want a silent kid hanging around.

"We don't know for sure why she was at the house…but whatever it was, it sure as hell wasn't legal. Someone might want to destroy all the evidence, or witnesses," Gibbs said in a low voice, watching the woman's reaction.

Against her better judgment Celine spoke slowly, "Well, since its temporary protection…I could probably arrange something. I'd have to cut through a dozen layers of red tape-"

"That could be a problem," Gibbs began, "I need you to temporarily 'lose' Lacey in the system."

"What! I can't do that, it could cost me not only my job but I could go to prison!" the last word came out as more of a hysterical hiss than an actual word.

He was really flying solo now, "It will only be for a short time and I won't let the girl out of my sight for a minute. It's the safest thing for her right now."

"I don't know-"

Gibbs moved close to her face and spoke in his most threatening voice, "How you like some innocent little girl's blood on your hands? Don't you think she's been through enough in her life?"

"No, I mean yes, I mean-"

"We'll have this whole case completely wrapped up in a few days then when it's safe, child services can take custody of her again."

Ms. Carlton pinched the bridge of her nose and looked like she was regretting agreeing to take this job, "If I get into trouble, I will be blaming you."

"I wouldn't have it another way."

NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS

Twenty minutes later found Gibbs and Lacey walking hand-and-hand out of the hospital and into the slowly rising sun and Megan's new security guard sitting near her door. New clothes from Ms. Celine, a stuffed cat that had appeared out of nowhere, and being significantly cleaner as well as fuller turned Lacey into a new girl. There was a little pep in her step and she even smiled at Gibbs once.

But the fear wasn't entirely gone…this little girl had been through too much and seen more. She should have been afraid, but Gibbs had come to the decision that he would not only catch the monster behind this, but he was going to make sure that this kid's life would never be black again.

"So, have you and David been partners long?" Agent Rodríguez voice broke into Tony's thoughts.

"Dav-eed," Tony corrected absently.

Rolling her eyes Rodríguez asked her question again, "Have you been partners long?"

"A couple years."

"But you like her."

"I try to get along with my partners, makes the work environment a much happier place. Don't you like your partner?"

"Of course I like my partner, but from the way you act, you like her more than a partner."

Before Tony could adamantly deny this fact, there was a popping sound behind them and the eight or so people in the home base spun around, searching the skies for the flare that they knew would follow the sound.

"There it is!" someone shouted, but Tony didn't really register the flurry of activity going on around him.

The flare was red.

Snapshot: A flare lighting up the sky in front of the rising sun.

That was one mean ending, wasn't it? Well I have off Moonday and maybe I will start another chapter…or I might sleep since I'm going to up all night on New Year's…PARTY HARDY!

Hope everyone has a FANTABULOUS New Year!

~Love,

Agent Striker