I AM SO SORRY GUYS! I have been sooo sick, I just can't seem to shake this cold thing. I'm a horrible author. I've been watching season 8 over and you guys have been waiting, SORROW IS MY MIDDLE NAME! But you guys like Tatyanna and Hunter, YESH! Love, love, love to my readers and reviewers:

Robern

smush68

1Styx and Stones1

ShadowEar

aoki-reiko (You're not the only one with a crush on Hunter…he's like the most perfect male specimen ever created! I love him toooooo!)

So, are y'all ready for this dang hot chappie? I actually don't know how hot it'll be, but whatevs.

Snapshot: Tony and Ziva's hands, each holding half of a cell phone.

Julia McLaughlin had been on her cell phone the whole way to the Naval hospital, alternating between listening, talking, sniffling, and cracking her knuckles. She was one of those people with a naturally pale complexion, but she looked just about as pale as her dying sister.

Standing next to Julia in the elevator, Tony realized she was a lot taller then he had thought at first, she and her sister were both probably closing in on five foot ten or eleven. Julia was obviously nervous, but she also didn't give off the air of a confident person.

In truth, Julia had always been the backwards twin. She hadn't been born the right way, and things seemed to go downhill from there. She was always the tallest kid in her class but stood in the shadow of her sister in academically as well as socially. Julia was that girl sitting alone a the corner lunch table with a book while her sister was the queen of the center table with a dozen boys hanging off her every word.

They didn't get along all the time (there had been multiple fights that had ended with broken windows, toys, and even bones) but they protected each other to the death. If Megan caught anybody making fun of her sister, they were likely to have their head handed to them.

"This is her room," Hunter said gently, prodding Julia out of her daydream.

Nodding timidly, Julia pushed the door back, took a step inside, then burst into tears and ran to her sister. "What happened?" she cried.

Hunter and Tony exchanged a glance. To tell or not. "She was kidnapped and held in a house in rural Virginia."

"Oh my God," Julia whispered, glancing back at her sister.

"And she wasn't the only one," Hunter said gently, "We have evidence that there were ten others with her."

Julia gasped again, "What happened to them?"

"Nine are missing and unaccounted for, one is in our custody," Tony supplied. The evidence in question was DNA, fingerprints, and hair samples collected (and still being collected) from the Carney House.

Julia looked like she was going to be sick as Tony continued, "I'm going to need you to tell me about the last time you saw you sister. How was she acting the day she disappeared?"

She took a deep, shuttering breath, "It was about six months ago in early June…"

Flashback:

"Are you coming or not?" Megan's demanding voice shouted from the ground below.

Julia shook her head, readjusting her position on the warm roof. The day was surprisingly cool, with electric blue skies and a light breeze. The roof was a perfect temperature and she was utterly content to remain stretched out just beyond the open window with her book.

"Why not?" Megan whined.

"Because I don't want to be a third wheel you and your friends, it's kinda annoying to tell you the truth."

"But I have someone I want you to meet-" Megan began.

"Liar. You have someone you want to meet. Me being there is just a plus so you can show whoever how much cooler you are than your sister."

She threw up her hands, "You're crazy but, whatever! I tried; be antisocial if you want, see if I care that you're gonna die alone with seventy-four cats!"

Julia threw a half-full water bottle with surprising accuracy, catching her sister in the back of the head. Spinning around, Megan screamed several choice words and with a choice gesture disappeared down the street. At the corner, she waved at an old red pick-up truck, talked with the driver for a second then hopped inside.

End Flashback

"And that's the last time any of us saw her. The truck was stolen from a junkyard and they found it abandoned two days later about seventy miles from our house," she finished. "God, why did I let her get into that truck? I thought it was just one of her friends…"

Hunter squeezed her shoulder reassuringly, "You couldn't have known."

She pulled away and turned back to her sister, "Have you found the…bastard who put her here?"

Tony shook his head, "We will."

"Then get to it," Julia croaked, sounding a lot like Gibbs, "he can't gonna do this to anyone else's sister or daughter."

Lacey was swinging her legs happily while she ate a bowl of chicken noodle soup, one of those little microwaveable cups, when Gibbs' phone rang, "Yeah, Gibbs."

He listened for a minute, then nodded, "Okay Abs, I'll be right there."

Glancing at Lacey, now munching on peanut butter crackers, he had to smile. Such a cute kid. "Lacey, do you want to take this back to my desk? I need to go talk to Abby."

Nodding, she grabbed the crackers and her jacket, leaving Gibbs to carry the liquids. The pair was one that made even the most hardened of the agents smile a little. Little Lacey in her baggy baby jeans leading the way with half a dozen mismatched markers and a notebook under one arm, her jacket dragging behind her, little fist wrapped around the crackers, with Gibbs trailing behind like a foreboding guardian angel.

She trotted confidently into the squad room and climbed carefully into Gibbs' chair, planting herself firmly in the center. She happily surrounded herself with her newfound toys and didn't bat an eye when Gibbs told her that he'd be right back. Tatyanna however, did. "Keep an eye on her," he had commanded gruffly.

Tatyanna didn't like children. They were just annoying life forms that should be locked up until they were old enough to realize when they should shut up (which would be all the time in her mind). She nodded at Gibbs, who had noticed her rather interesting attire, but ignored it, and then watched Lacey for a minute.

Lacey was silent and she seemed to be perfectly content to munch on her crackers and hum softly to herself. What kind of person could leave a sweet little thing like her tied to a bed in abandoned house? Whoever he or she was, they had better watch their back.

"What do ya got for me Abs?" Gibbs asked as he sauntered into the room.

"Well, I have all the samples from the house. There were at least fourteen people who were in and out of that house. There were eleven in the room where you found Lacey. I also have a few partial prints from a coupled of the dirty plates in the sink. I'm running them but nothing so far."

"Is that what you called me down here to tell me?"

Abby looked mildly insulted, "There's more," tapping a few keys on her computer, two pictures popped up.

The first picture had been scanned into the system and the edges were partially burned. The second picture graced the page of a wanted poster. "Gibbs, meet the corporal's ex and Timmy/Ziva's assailant, Wayne Talbot."

Gibbs nodded, "Where'd you get the burnt picture?"

"Ava Esposito."

Gibbs didn't bother to ask the Goth to explain further, "Send that picture to Tony and tell him to show it to Ziva. He should still be at the hospital with the McLaughlin girl."

Abby nodded, her fingers flying across the keys. Gibbs made his way to the elevator, shouting directions to Tatyanna to put out a BOLO all the while. As the elevator doors closed, he shut his phone and smiled a little. They were getting close; he could feel it in his gut.

The nurse at the nurse's station said that ZIva was awake, but Tony knocked softly anyway. "Enter," a voice command hoarsely from inside.

Tony flung back the door and greeted his partner jovially, "How are you feeling?"

Well enough to roll her eyes, "Sore."

"That's what you get for getting yourself trapped in a collapsing mine shaft."

"I will kill you slowly," Ziva growled.

Tony just smiled indulgently, "Well, Abby sent me a picture and she wants you too look at it. It might be the man that you were chasing."

Ziva nodded and held out her hand. Tony gently placed in her hand, careful to avoid the gadgets she was strapped to. Staring at the phone for a long minute, she sighed and leaned back against bed, handing his phone back to him, "That is him."

Snapshot: Tony and Ziva's hands, each holding half of a cell phone.

There, that took way longer than it should have. I was doing the last part and the Word kept closing and NOT saving anything. Errr.

Reviews?

~S