Chapter Four

Gibbs got to the Naval Academy in record time and as he parked, Fornell and McGee were already on their way out of the car. Fornell's men had been checking in with him and so far, nobody had had any luck. The Academy was their best bet, so they were eager to start their search.

Fornell checked his phone after hearing it vibrate, alerting him to a new text message, then looked over at Gibbs. "About 6 of my guys are here, waiting for our directions."

Gibbs nodded. "Have them split up, 3 and 3. They can start on opposite ends of campus and work in. We'll take the chapel."

Fornell sent the directions out to his men, then slipped his phone back in his pocket. "Let's go," he said.

As they walked to the building, Fornell noticed McGee had been quiet since he gave them the info on Santos. He glanced over, speaking quietly. "You okay, Agent McGee?"

McGee straightened his back and said, "I'm fine. Just worried about Tony. We have to find him."

Fornell nodded, though he knew McGee wasn't saying everything. "We'll find him. And you'll get to Ziva in time."

McGee didn't respond, but he didn't have to. Fornell saw the look of determination on his face. Finding Tony was paramount, but McGee being at Ziva's side when she gave birth to their child. . . He had a daughter. He knew how important that moment was. And he knew Gibbs understood that, too.

Gibbs' voice tore Fornell from his thoughts. "We'll start in the crypt. With any luck, we won't have to spend long looking."

They approached the place of worship, each of them sharing the same thought that for someone as twisted as Santos, hiding a body in what was essentially a church was something right up his alley, so this was their best bet. They just hoped that if Tony was there, he was still alive.

Before they could go inside, a man in a police uniform appeared, his face stern. "May I help you gentlemen?" he asked, his stance suggesting he was ready to defend himself if necessary.

"We're federal agents," Gibbs supplied. "NCIS and FBI. I'm going to get my badge." He cautiously reached into his inside pocket for his ID, Fornell and McGee following suit.

The officer looked at their badges and nodded, relaxing his posture a bit. "What can I do to help NCIS and the FBI?"

"We're looking for one of my agents," Gibbs said. "We believe he's been abducted by this man." He took out a photo of Santos, hoping someone would recognize him.

The officer studied the photo for a few moments before shaking his head. "I'm afraid I haven't seen him, sir."

"We need to search the chapel and any surrounding buildings," Fornell said. "We believe this man could have come here either to hide himself or our missing agent."

The officer nodded again. "Of course. Go right ahead. I'll alert my fellow officers of your presence."

"Thank you," McGee supplied, as Gibbs and Fornell were already on their way in. He hurried after them, leaving the officer to look after them before pulling out his hand-held radio.

"Feds are here," he muttered into the device. "Need you guys at the chapel." He slipped the radio back into his belt, a smile creeping onto his face. "Never suspected a thing."

Paula moved to grasp Tony's shoulders, shaking him. "Tony, no. Stay with me."

Tony put his hands on his head, shaking it. "I can't. I can't do that to everyone else. It would mean . . . everything that happened in those 9 years didn't happen, no Kate, no Ziva, no McGee and Ziva being happy together. . ." He suddenly looked up at her, his eyes wide. "I can't do that to them! They're my best friends! Yeah, at first it was weird, because Ziva's pretty smoking hot and McGee's a total dork, but they're really happy together."

A tear slipped down Paula's face. "What about you, Tony? Don't you deserve to be happy?"

His expression softened and he lowered a hand to cup her face. "You're gone, Paula. I accepted it. I've moved on. I'm glad to have this experience, but I can't stay. I don't even think it's up to me."

She nodded and wiped away her tears. "You're right. I have to live with it. But you have to promise me you won't waste any more chances. Be happy, Tony. Obviously we didn't get that chance in whatever reality you need to go back to, but that doesn't mean you can't be happy with someone else."

He ran his thumb over her cheek. "I'll remember that. And what I was going to say earlier?" Paula nodded, encouraging him to continue, and he lowered his voice as he spoke. "I love you, Paula. I think I always did. I don't know why I never told you."

His revelation drew a sob from Paula, and she buried her face in his chest. "Oh my God, Tony. I love you, too." She let out a laugh that was half-sob, waiting for his response, and when she didn't get one, lifted her head, only then realizing . . . she was alone. Tony was gone. She was left wondering. . .

Was he ever there in the first place?

. . . In the crypt of the chapel at the Naval Academy, Tony lifted his head and opened his eyes, looking around and blinking, attempting to make some sense of where he was. He appeared to be alone, but he knew someone could very well be hiding somewhere. He raised a hand to his head, and it came away wet, making him grimace. Blood. Had to be. He tried looking at his hand, but it was too dim to see well, and just the thought of smelling it to check made his stomach curl in on itself.

It didn't matter. He was alive, and if he was indeed alone, that meant his captors had either assumed he was dead and left him there (which would be lucky for him) or else they were coming back to finish him off. He was really hoping for the first option.

He tried pushing himself into a sitting position, but before he could get far, he heard voices. He froze, not wanting to alert anyone he was conscious in case it was whoever put him there, and briefly considered lying down again, when he heard a whispered voice he was sure he was imagining, it was that welcome.

"Tony? Are you here?"

He couldn't help but whisper his own response. "McGee!"

"Where the hell'd McGee go?" Fornell muttered to Gibbs. "Thought you told him to stay with us."

"I did," Gibbs responded, sounding put out. They continued walking, searching the dim light of the crypt for any sign that Tony was there, that anybody had been there at all. He lowered his voice and said, "We're being followed."

Fornell grunted to show his acknowledgment, then said aloud, "Geez, your breath stinks. You need a mint, Gibbs," and reached for where he kept his gun.

Gibbs laughed, honing in on Fornell's plan, and said, "C'mon man, you don't think I don't have gum?" He reached for his own gun, then counted under his breath before hissing, "Now!"

They spun around to confront whoever was following them, finding two men dressed as Naval Academy police officers, holding out their own guns.

"Something tells me you gentlemen don't actually work here," Fornell said.

"You feds are always so stupid," one of the men, whom they recognized as the man they spoke with earlier, said. "You didn't even ask to see my ID. Idiots."

"But he did figure out that you were following us," Fornell said, referring to Gibbs. "And you believed that breath mint B.S., so maybe you two are the idiots."

Gibbs rolled his eyes, not wanting to waste any more time. "Where's my agent?"

The fake officer laughed. "You think we're just going to tell you?"

"You obviously have him," Gibbs said, and the other officer groaned under his breath, realizing the gaffe his cohort had made. "I don't believe he's dead, or else you would've been long gone. How'd you know to wait for us outside?"

"Don't answer that, Joe," the second officer hissed to his friend.

Fornell smiled at the fake officers. "You didn't know we were coming, did you, Joe? That's your name, right? Bet your boss just told you to wait outside, in case someone showed up. Nice touch with the uniforms, by the way. Too bad you're dealing with a real Navy cop who knows what the Naval Academy police uniforms actually look like. We just needed to get inside, hence the 'idiot' act, as you called it. Now, you can either come with us willingly, or we can use force." The fake officers looked at each other, clearly trying to decide if they should make a move, when Fornell spoke again. "We may be old guys, but he's a former Marine. I wouldn't risk it."

The fake officers shared another quick look, before attempting to bolt, but not before Gibbs jolted after them, knocking them down. Fornell was at his side in an instant, cuffing one of the guys while Gibbs cuffed the other. They pulled them to their feet, hauling them toward the exit, and Gibbs quipped, "Who you calling old, Tobias?"

Fornell just laughed, as the man in his arms – the one apparently named Joe – squirmed, turning his head and asking, "Don't you care about finding your agent? Maybe we work out a deal, we tell you where he is if you let us go?"

"Joe!" his cohort said, not wanting to admit to anything, for obvious reasons.

"Nah, that's being taken care of," Gibbs said, smiling a bit as he imagined the looks of confusion on their perpetrators' faces. He shoved them again as they reached the exit, meeting Fornell's agents, who took custody of the cuffed men.

Once they were free of the perps, Fornell turned to Gibbs. "What now?"

Gibbs just held up a finger as his phone rang, and answered it. "Gibbs. We're on our way, McGee." He ended the call and slipped the phone back into his pocket, then turned back for the chapel. "Come on."

Fornell watched him walk away, staring after him for a moment and muttering, "How the hell do you do that?" before following him back into the building.

"McGee!" Gibbs called out as they entered the crypt.

"Over here, Boss!" they heard, and followed his voice to where they found him sitting with Tony.

". . . and you had that terrible crew cut that made you look like a Lego guy. . ."

"Hey!" McGee turned from Tony to acknowledge Gibbs. "Hey, Boss. He's okay, for the most part, though he's spouting nonsense about being trapped in some alternate universe."

"It was real, I swear to God!" Tony said as Gibbs squatted to check him out, running a hand over his head. "Thanks for finding me, Boss."

"At least we got Santos," Gibbs said, grunting as he helped McGee lift Tony to his feet. "Come on, we gotta get to the hospital."

"I'll be fine, Boss, it's probably just a minor concussion," Tony said.

"Not for you," he said as they walked to the exit. "Ziva."

"Ziva?" Tony said, before it dawned on him and he looked over at McGee. "Oh my God, is she having the baby? Did she have it already? Please don't tell me she did."

"She's in labor, yes, but I don't think she's had the baby yet," McGee supplied. "At least I haven't heard anything from Abby. She had Jimmy and Breena take her."

Tony made a face. "Yikes. Hope the gremlin makes it out alive." He yelped as McGee pinched his arm and added, "Though I am sure it will be an enlightening experience, because Ziva is such a lovely woman. It'll probably make them want to have a baby right this minute."

"Uh-huh," McGee said. "I just want to get to the hospital."

They stepped outside, where Gibbs paused, clearly thinking about their perps.

"I got it, Gibbs." Gibbs looked over to Fornell, who shrugged. "My guys already have them in custody. And you probably should take DiNozzo to the hospital, just to make sure he's okay."

Gibbs didn't argue with him, just gave him a nod and said, "I owe you one, Tobias."

Fornell was already walking away and waved over his shoulder. Gibbs turned back to Tony and McGee. "Come on. There's a baby waiting to be born."

A/N: One more chapter to go! Thanks for all the reviews/follows/faves, everyone! :)