Thank you to everyone, who is reading this story.

Enjoy the new chapter.

I don't own anything. The characters belong to CBS.

Chapter 5

Hours later nothing had changed. They still had no clue where Gibbs' team was or who took them. The kidnappers still didn't say anything, but Callen had his doubts if they knew anything at all about the master plan. Gibbs hadn't said a word. Since the life partners of his team had left, including the nervous Jake, he had watched the interrogations and then listened to the conclusions of the teams. He couldn't tell anymore how much coffee he had poured into himself because he had stopped counting after his tenth coffee, and now he had to admit that the caffeine had lost his impact. The team leader felt the tiredness rolling over him, but he didn't give up. He couldn't sleep. His team needed him, so he stood up, and went for a new coffee.

"Daddy! Daddy, wake up!"

Tired Gibbs tried to wave the voice of the little girl away. Why couldn't they just leave him alone and give him some rest? He needed his strength to find his team.

"Daddy! I know that you can hear me! Wake up!"

Of course, he could hear her, but this didn't mean that he would do as she said. It had been a long day and… Wait. Did she call him 'Daddy'?

Quickly, Gibbs opened his tired eyes and was greeted by a pair of beautiful green eyes.

"See? I knew you heard me, daddy. Why didn't you answer me?"

Gibbs blinked a few times to clear his view. It took him a few seconds until he recognized the squad room. He was lying behind his desk, and a little girl with black hair stood over him. She had bound her hair in two pigtails and wore a black, cute dress with skulls on it.

"Abby," the shocked team leader whispered.

This wasn't possible. His Abby was a grown-up woman, and yet there was this little girl, who couldn't be older than four, who reminded him of his surrogate daughter.

"Daddy?" asked the young Abby with fear in her eyes.

"Yes?" answered Gibbs automatically.

"Why don't you say anything?"

"What should I say?"

"I want to know why you didn't answer me. Are you even listening to me, daddy?"

"I… wait a second. Why are you calling me 'daddy'?"

"What do you mean? I always call you daddy, daddy."

"No, you call me Gibbs."

"That sounds strange. Why should I call you by your name? You are my daddy."

"No, I'm not, Abs. I'm your boss."

"Stop it! I don't like this game."

"You are the one, who has to stop. I'm not your father. My daughter's name was Kelly and she is dead for years."

Gibbs felt how the panic rose inside of him until he saw how the beautiful green eyes filled themselves with tears.

"Why are you saying that? I'm your daughter."

"You are a part of my team. You are a brilliant forensic scientist, but you are not my daughter."

"I don't like this game. Tony!"

The young Abby turned around and ran away. Surprised Gibbs stood up, but what he saw let him froze. The little girl ran to a young boy, who was a few years older than her. But this wasn't the reason for Gibbs' reaction. The little boy looked exactly like his senior field agent!

"That is impossible," Gibbs whispered.

He watched how the little Tony took the little Abby in his arms. His brain had to play a trick on him. This couldn't be real.

"What's wrong, Abs?"

"Daddy is mean to me. He says that I'm not his daughter."

"Nonsense, you are his favorite. He would never say something like that."

"But he did!"

"I'm sure you misunderstood him."

"No, I haven't! He said that I'm not his daughter and that his daughter's name is Kelly, but she is dead."

The young Tony looked confused at his little sister before he turned his attention to Gibbs.

"Dad? Did you really say that?"

Gibbs needed to gulp. What was wrong with him? Now it wasn't only Abby, but Tony too? Why was his team transformed into little kids? His kids! No, his team was… was… He couldn't remember what was wrong with his real team. The grown-up version. But his gut told him that it was important and that he needed to remember it.

"Dad? Are you not feeling well? Shall I get Uncle Ducky?"

Gibbs concentrated on the little kids again. If there was a younger version of Abby and Tony, then where were McGee and Bishop? And who was their mother?

"Tony, daddy scares me. He isn't responding to any of us. Please, get Uncle Ducky."

"Yeah, I think this will be the best."

This time their words reached Gibbs' fuzzy brain. Quickly, he stood in the way of the young boy to stop him from going down to Ducky. The last thing he needed was to get checked by a doctor. He was fine, it was just the people around him, who wasn't.

"There is no need to call Ducky."

"But you are acting strange, dad. I never saw Abby running away from you. Whenever you notice that she doesn't understand your jokes you pull her into your arms and apologize to her. But not today. What is different?"

Gibbs looked at the little girl, who reminded him of Abby and saw that the tears were running down her cheeks, while she watched him worried. Maybe she wasn't his real daughter, but Gibbs never liked it to see a child crying. What could it hurt if he played the game for a while? At least, it would make them happy. Smiling he went on his knees to be smaller.

"I'm sorry, Abs. I didn't mean to scare you. I wasn't thinking and this was stupid from me. Can you forgive me?"

He waited, while the little girl was thinking over his words. Finally, she gave him a small nod when suddenly a young boy arrived with a woman. Immediately, Gibbs recognized McGee, who was holding a book in his hands. So he found the third person from his team. Now there was only Bishop missing… missing. Why was his gut reacting to this word?

"I'm sorry, boss. I tried my best to keep an eye on them, but they are really quick," the woman said with a sigh.

"Never apologize. It's a sign of weakness," Gibbs replied automatically, while his thoughts were still analyzing his gut.

"Right, rule number 6. I promise that I won't let them out of my side anymore."

Suddenly, Gibbs looked up at the woman. There was something about her voice that interrupted his thoughts. She pulled her long blond hair in a ponytail, which gave Gibbs a good look at her face.

"Bishop," he whispered, but apparently not silent enough.

"Yes? Can I help you, boss? Why are you kneeling on the floor? Did you lose something?"

"But when Abby and Tony and McGee… why aren't you… you're grown-up."

"Ehm, yes. Since a few years now. Thanks for noticing."

"No, I don't mean… I thought you would be… I'm confused."

"Well, that makes us two because I don't know what you are talking about. Don't you feel well, boss?"

"I think I need to sit down for a moment."

Unsteady he stood up and went back to his desk. What was wrong with him? Why were Abby, Tony, and Tim little kids, but Bishop was a grown-up? That didn't make sense. Was someone playing with his memories?

"Daddy?"

Gibbs needed to take a look at the children again. Abby and Tony were definitely worried and McGee didn't understand what was going on. Was this a parallel universe, or did he turn crazy?

"Hey, kids. Have you already driven your father crazy?"

"Agent Pride! That is not funny," Bishop said angrily to the older agent.

But Pride didn't come alone. By his side was no one else than Special Agent Callen.

"Callen? Shouldn't you be in LA?" asked Gibbs, which earned him a laughter as a response.

"I wish. But my vacation days are still far away. Didn't you promise the kids to fly with them to LA?"

"With my kids? I don't have children."

This time, he got a confused look from Callen, while Pride walked to Abby.

"How is my sweet Abby?"

Of course, the little girl turned around, so the old man saw the tears in her eyes and on her cheeks. Immediately, Pride was alarmed and took her in his arms.

"Why are you crying? Did Tony pull your hair again?"

"Hey! I just did this once!"

"Once? Are you sure about that?"

"Well, maybe twice. But not more than three times."

"I think you have a problem with counting, but I believe you. It seems that this time you are not the reason for her tears."

"No," Abby answered, while she rubbed her eyes "It's daddy. He is mean to me."

"Your daddy? I don't think so. He loves you very much."

"But why does he say that I'm not his daughter?"

"What are you talking about? Of course, you are his daughter. You are his little girl."

"It's true. He is acting weird," Tony confessed "I don't know what's wrong with him. Maybe Uncle Ducky should take a look at him."

Surprised Pride turned to his 'brother', who had only eyes for the young Abby on Pride's arm. Although he knew that she wasn't his daughter, he couldn't suppress the anger inside him, which grew with every second his friend held his little girl.

"Do they tell the truth, Gibbs? Did you tell Abby that she isn't your daughter?"

"Something is wrong here."

"I agree something is wrong with you. Why do you say something like that?"

Gibbs thought about keeping up with the game, but this was Pride. If there was anyone in this reality he could tell about his worries, it was this man.

"He said that he had a daughter, and that her name was Kelly, but that she is dead," Abby explained.

This time, Pride's look became sad. Did he remember Kelly? Would he tell those kids the truth?

"Honestly, brother? This story again? She is dead for so many years now, and you have three gorgeous kids. I thought that they would help you to ease your pain."

"She is my daughter."

"She WAS your daughter. Kelly will never come back, but Abby is here for you and she doesn't understand when her father talks nonsense. Hell, Gibbs, she is four years old. You can't tell her something like that."

"Pride, why don't you take the kids to the park?" Callen suggested, "I believe they could use some ice cream."

"That's a good idea, Callen. Tony, are you coming?"

Suddenly, Gibbs felt how the temperature fell with every second, but no one except him seemed to notice. The little Tony looked at his father as if he waited for an order, but then he shrugged with his shoulders and walked to his younger brother.

This was the time when the brightness of the squad room went down. More and more of the room went dark as if a cloud was flying in front of the sun. It started at the elevator and moved to the clueless agents.

"What is going on?" Gibbs whispered.

"You should take a nap, brother. Maybe you'll feel better then. Don't worry, I take care of your children."

"Bye, daddy."

Abby's tiny voice woke him up. Shocked he watched how Pride wanted to leave the office with his children, and immediately his gut was sending alarm signals. He couldn't let them go! It was important that he would keep them close.

"Stop!" he yelled, and everyone froze "Give me my children."

"Gibbs, let Pride take them…"

"Pride, give me my children!"

"Gibbs, I don't take them away from you. They need a timeout. I will return with them when you feel better."

Gibbs took a quick look at the growing darkness and the temperature fell to another five degrees. He had to do something, or it would be too late. He made three steps when the chaos started. Four masked men came out of the dark cloud. Bishop was the first one who fell. One of the men knocked her out then he threw her over his shoulder. The second man attacked Callen, while the third one grabbed Tony and McGee. Pride saw the danger and tried to run away, but suddenly he couldn't move anymore. It was as if his feet were glued to the floor.

Gibbs wasn't doing much better. He barely could set one foot in front of another. His feet felt like concrete, although he tried his best to reach his brother and his little daughter. Abby screamed loud and held out her little arms towards her daddy.

"Daddy! Help me!"

"Pride! Give me my daughter!"

But the poor man wasn't listening. Instead, he pressed the little girl, who was still screaming for her daddy, closer to him, while he tried to fight the fourth masked man with his free hand. Gibbs knew that this was useless. They wouldn't win this fight. All he could do was to get to his daughter before it was too late. But the cold seemed to freeze him and refused to let him walk properly. Desperately, he had to watch how Pride got knocked out with one hard punch. Abby screamed loud, but she was lost. The fourth man pulled her into his arms, while she tried to punch him. It would have looked cute if the situation wouldn't have been so serious. Her punch's had no force, so she wasn't hurting him at all.

"You failed, Special Agent Gibbs," the fourth man said before he turned around and left with the children, his friends, and the unconscious Bishop.

"No! Abby! Please don't do this!"

But none of them looked back. They walked into the dark cloud, which seemed to swallow them, then they were gone.

"ABBY!"

"ABBY!"

Screaming Gibbs woke up. The sweat was running down his face, and he felt his heart racing. Where was he? Where was Abby? Confused he looked around. He was lying behind his desk, but this time there was no cute little girl, who woke him up. Instead, he heard the sounds of computers, which were working and telephones, which were ringing. Then he noticed Pride, who walked over to him. Gibbs saw the pain and sadness in the eyes of his brother and understood immediately. He had a nightmare. This was the present, and he finally remembered his missing team. He had no children. His stupid mind just made it up.

"How do you feel, Gibbs?"

"I'm fine. When did I fall asleep?"

"Around eleven pm. You yelled Abby's name. Was the dream about her?"

"Sort of."

"You don't want to talk about it."

"No, I don't. How long did I sleep?"

"It's 6 am now. You slept through the whole night."

"Damn it! What have I missed?"

"Nothing actually. We are still searching for clues, and because everyone is exhausted, it takes longer."

"Did anyone called again?"

"No one. It seems like this shadow man wants to test your patience."

"So basically, we still have nothing."

"I don't know what you guys have, but we – and with "we" I mean Nell and my incredibly talented person – we got something," Eric explained, who was now standing next to Sam "We found the house from the video."