Chapter 5: Stuck

A/N Hi everyone,
Merry Christmas! I hope you all have a really great days with maybe gifts and family and hopefully snow… cause here it's not gonna happen.
But I'm still happy 'cause Christmas is one of my favorite holidays… Just like Abby!
It's not Christmas in my story, because then things would get really depressing. Imagine Abby not able to celebrate Christmas... Exactly.

So this is my Christmas gift to you all! An extra long chapter! It might be a little confusing here and there, but please hang in there; after all the explanations, it will get fun ;)

Sorry I haven't updated in a few days. I have a little more time now every day, so I'll try to update faster… especially since all of you are so kind with reviews I'm really, really, really touched.
Thanks to my friend, who was so… kind… as to inform me about a mistake I made. (Good thing you're Dutch or else I would've killed you. Yeah, I know you would love to see me try. But still. I would.)

Oeh, and no one found the word yet. Mmm, I'll put it in this chapter, too. Enjoy!

Disclaimer stuff: See chapter 4. I'm lazy.

Preview: And then it hit her. The whole evening came back to her: the nightmare about Gibbs, and how she rushed to his house. And after that, the three men…. Realization struck.
She gasped.

Gibbs hadn't saved her.

Xxxx

"How far?" Gibbs yelled over the roar of the engine. His hands were clasped around the steering wheel as if his life depended on it. McGee and Ziva were both pressed in their seats in the back, while Tony was sitting next to him, his face pale. He was holding a tracking device and desperately tried to make out the small numbers that kept changing.
"Uh, we're twenty minutes behind them… I think," he yelled back. After a minute, he added hopefully: "Boss, I think we're catching up to them!" His boss responded to that by pressing the accelerator even more. It made everyone gasp and fear for their lives.

Gibbs didn't even hear it. His mind felt paralyzed. He was terrified of coming too late, of being unable to get to her before- before something bad happened. If it did, it would be his fault. He didn't think he could live with that. He'd been through that before, losing his family… and then losing Kate, Jenny and his boss. But he went on, no matter how much he would pay for it, no matter how hard it had been. For his job, for the people around him and for himself, because he wouldn't be able to live.
But without Abby being there, not hearing her absurd loud music or seeing her dancing through her lab… All the moments when she did not notice him, watching her, kept playing through his head. Sometimes when he came down he saw her talking to her stuffed animal or her "babies". The softness he heard in her voice made him want to go to her and just wrap his arms around her. The agent clenched his teeth. Just like now. He wanted to make sure she was safe again and he was never letting her go. Although he wasn't sure he would ever be able to tell her. Because if he did, and she didn't felt the same way, she would be hurt. And he wouldn't ever make himself hurt her. Tony interrupted his thoughts.
"Boss, we gotta be on the same road, the thing says 4 minutes." His head snapped up and he closed his eyes a little, trying to see something in the darkness. His sight wasn't that good so he kept peering through his lashes, just like that one time when Abby asked him to look at a photo. He didn't want to, but of course he did; she could make him do things just by smiling at him. McGee unbuckled his seatbelt and jumped up, holding himself up on Dinozzo's seat.
"That means we could see them any moment now!"
Gibbs gut screamed that had to go to her, now, now, now, now! It was driving him crazy not knowing where she was.
Three more minutes.
He would hold her. And never letting her go anymore.
Two more minutes.
He would kill the goddamn bastard if he layed even one dirty finger on Abby.
One minute.

Xxx

Abby woke up to a hard sound. Not her usual alarm. Not the heather either. For one second, she didn't recognize her surroundings, or the man that just slammed the door open.
Then it all came back.

There were five of them. Only one adult: a man who was in his forties, who looked like he was ill. The rest were children. They had one thing in common: they were all kidnapped.

"Where am I?" Abby managed to say. Her mouth was still very dry and her headache was still way too heavy for her to be able to think clearly. The floor she sat on was made of rough, brownish stones. A thin layer of dusty sand covered everything, even the grayish walls, also made of stones. It looked a little like those prehistoric cave houses, she thought sleepily.
"We don't know. We hoped you would," A husky voice came from a corner. Her eyes pierced the dimness of the room. She saw the silhouette of a man and pressed her back firm against the cold wall. The man appeared to notice her distress because he made his way to the small beam of light so she could see him. He was tall, but slim. Light brown hair fell in short strands over his tanned face. "My name is Victor, Victor LaRouch. I'm here because of my brother's fortune. The kids all have rich parents. And you?" Abby frowned. She didn't get it.
"What? But… why are we here? What is this place?"
"We don't know. They never let us out. If you look out of the window, all you can see is the sky. No clues there." He coughed heavily. "Sorry. I meant they ask a ransom."
Abby let that sink in. She rubbed over her face and tried to clear her mind. Maybe if she pulled up her hair, things would seem more logical. Things always were logical. She was a forensic scientist; she had to trust the facts. She took one of the elastics that she always kept around her wrist, and tied up one ponytail.
Fact number one: she was in a room she didn't know. Fact number two: she was drugged. So that meant the creepy man with the golden teeth had taken her by force and put her here. Question was: why would he do it? And who were those other people? No, no, no. She forced herself to concentrate on the facts.
Fact number three: the man and the children didn't know where they were. –Wait, they had mentioned they were kidnapped before! So that means we're all imprisoned here.
She pulled up the rest of her hair for the second ponytail to calm herself down.
Fact number four: it had something to do with a ransom."
The children had silently been observing her, but now the two girls crept towards her.
"Do you know our mom? Is she looking for us?" "Can you help us escape?" They both talked through each other. (A/N yeah, that's probably wrong. Stupid google translater.) Shocked, Abby realized that these little children were put in this dirty room, all alone and scared.
"How… how many of you are there?" she stammered.
"Sorry, you don't even know why you are here, did you? Luca was like that, too you know. There are five of us: me, the twins… They're called Danai and Jadelyn, both six years old. They are kidnapped because their father is a high-class director who wouldn't cooperate. Then there's Luca… Come on, boy, show yourself." A boy snorted, but came closer anyway. He was small but his brown eyes were bright. Despite it, the girl could also see the pain and fear reflected in them. He was dressed in rags. Abby felt a pang shoot through her chest. She noticed in horror that the children were way too skinny and covered in dirt. What kind of monster would do this?
The man continued. "He is eight years old. And last, there's another girl. But she refuses to speak." He gestured to another dark corner. Shadows moved when a girl crept into the light. She moved her fingers in a small gesture, almost unnoticed. But Abby sparred her eyes wide open.
"No, she just can't: she's deaf!" She started signing. The girl stared at her in unbelief, but then started to sign back. Two minutes later, the forensic scientist found out that the girl was twelve years old and was named Jasmine. She was kidnapped because her father was the Mayor of some town… He didn't go along with the plans of a powerful man and therefore, they took her. The forensic scientist shivered. She still didn't get why she was here. What importance could she possible have?

The moonlight caught Abby's eye. She looked up, out the window, still dizzy of the mess she was in.

Oh Gibbs, she thought. I'm so sorry.
It's going to take a lot longer to get me out of here.
She stared at the moon in horror when the truth became clear. There was no doubt possible; the position of the moon didn't lie.
"Crap," she said, attracting everyone's attention. "We're in Mexico."

Soon after that, before she could explain, her headache worsened. Everything became just… too much too handle. All she could do was to close her eyes and to let herself slip back to the floor. Victor said something but she didn't hear him anymore. She drifted away.

Abby woke up to a hard sound. Not her usual alarm. Not the heather either. For one second, she didn't recognize her surroundings, or the man that just slammed the door open.
then it all came back to her.
"Welcome to the club, miss Scuito," a malice voice said. Abby looked at his face and paled.
"You!" was all she could say.