a/n - Ack, what a day. I've been trying to upload this chapter since after the babies had breakfast this morning. At least this is a nice, juicy chapter for you, and to make up for the delay, tomorrow will be a double dip day if the website holds on. Thanks for the reviews :)

Tobias Fornell glared at the dog currently sprawled across his backseat. "It's your fault I'm late, you know that." Jethro gave a soft whuff and rolled onto his back, hoping for one more belly rub. Fornell just shook his head as he closed the door. It really wasn't the dog's fault that dropping Emily off at a friend's house got so complicated. He was an FBI agent, he should have known that combining a big, friendly dog with six little girls would be a time consuming experience. Nope, he decided, it was McGee fault for not warning him about Jethro's love of peanut butter and how many tricks he could do to earn some.

It was mid-morning by the time Fornell made it to the apartment to join Myers and Sacks. After a late night phone conference between them, Myers had quietly turned off the alarm in the apartment bedroom and muted McGee's phone. With any luck, the NCIS agent in their care would sleep late into the morning. Once he entered the apartment, he knew instantly the plan had failed. McGee was already at the computer and 'in the zone' as the team called it. Myers was apologetic while he taped papers up on the walls as fast as Sacks was pulling them off the printer. "Sorry, he was up at the crack of dawn this morning."

"Bulldog, remember?" Fornell moved closer to look at the papers Myers was putting up. Each grouping was for a different chain of nursing and care homes that was now under the control of Edmund Moore through one of his many shell companies. Under the chain information were pages of names with personal information. Tobias felt sick as he realized what he was looking at. "How many potential victims have you identified?"

For the first time, McGee looked up at him. His expression was haunted even as he petted his dog. "We're looking at thousands." He sounded better, Tobias noted, as he took another deep breath before telling the rest. "They started more than ten years ago."

"Ten years?" Tobias looked at the other members of the team hard at work. "That's before they were ever on our radar." He turned back to the sea of names slowly taking over the apartment walls. "What the hell are they up to?"

---NCIS---

Tony DiNozzo looked around as he climbed out of his car, balancing a bag of breakfast burritos and a stack of DVD's. There was no Porsche in the lot, but DiNozzo wasn't ready to give up. He took the stairs two at a time and started banging on the door as soon as he arrived at McGee's apartment. After getting no response, he moved onto plan B and pulled out his lockpicks. Once inside the empty rooms, the happy-go-lucky mask slipped as he leaned against the computer desk. "Damn it Tim, Gibbs is convinced you're in trouble. For once, prove the man wrong, Probie, prove him wrong."

---NCIS---

Julia cleaned up the table after a rare leisurely Saturday morning breakfast with her husband, Hank, and all of their children and new step-grandchildren. The only person missing was their oldest daughter's husband who was serving overseas. Behind her, Hank came into the dining room, pulling on his coat. "Are you sure you have to go into work today?"

"I'm sure, sweetheart." He gave her a peck on the cheek as he snagged an apple from the crystal bowl in the center of the table. "This morning was probably my last break until we finish this case. Take lots of pictures of the kids at the zoo for me."

After twenty three years of marriage, she recognized the look on his face. "This case, it's a bad one, isn't it?"

"Probably one of the worst." The second kiss he gave her was a lingering one and she knew he was committing that moment to memory.

Julia reached up and touched the faint scar on his temple, a reminder of the last case that had consumed him. "Stay safe. You hear me, Henry James Thompson, you stay safe."

Hank gave her a nod before he left for the lab at Quantico. Science had never been his strong suit, and Mildred gave him only a brief run down on the first batch of tests before she took pity on him and sent him on his way with a thick stack of results for McGee. Feeling like he was spending most of his day driving, he left Quantico to meet up with the rest of the task force at the apartment.

---NCIS---

"Shit." Fornell took one look at the caller ID on his cell phone and ducked into the bathroom to take the call. "Walt, what's going on?" Harrison didn't mince words.

~We've had an incident. Nancy and Sarah McGee are all right, but I think it's time to move them.~

"What happened?" Fornell let his head drop and started rubbing his forehead, a nervous habit he'd never quite overcome.

~A guy claiming to be from the cable company tried to get in. He told Sarah that he was there to upgrade their outlets or some such thing. Nancy threw him out and told him to make an appointment next time. I didn't think he was going to back down, but some of the neighbors showed up and he took off.~

"Is there any chance that he really was from the cable company?"

~I checked. No worker was scheduled for their street today and the entire block was upgraded to fiber optics four months ago. I know this family's been through a lot, but they're sitting targets here, Tobias.~

"Okay, okay, you're right. Go ahead and set it up. Let me bring McGee up to speed on what's happened and I'll call you back in a few minutes. Oh, and Walt?"

~Yeah?~

"I promised the kid we'd keep his family safe." Fornell closed his phone and squared his shoulders before walking back out to where McGee was waiting for him.

One look and Fornell knew that McGee knew; probably knew the moment he ducked into the bathroom to take the call. "My family?"

"Still safe, but it's time for the Marshals to take them. I'm sorry, kid." Tobias proudly noted the hands on McGee's shoulders in silent support as he brought him up to speed on what had happened.

Tim had been an agent long enough to know what those words meant. From the time the Marshals walked into his family's home to the time they left would only be a few minutes and Tim's family would, for all intents and purposes, cease to exist. His mother and baby sister would be whisked away to a strange city with new names and new histories. He would not see them or speak to them again until Edmund Moore and his followers were safely and completely locked away.

"Is there time for me to say goodbye to them?"

The father in him again ached for the young man. "Yeah, there's time. Besides, they need to know why this is necessary and it would probably be better coming partially from you."

Phone in hand, Tim scrolled past the names of his team members to reach his mother's cell number. He punched send and listened while it rang, knowing that at the other end it was playing the theme from the Untouchables. None of his friends knew Sarah had inherited her quirky humor from their mother. She didn't waste time when she answered.

~Timmy, something strange just happened.~

"The guy claiming to be from the cable company?"

~How did you know?~

"There's Federal Marshals outside, Mom. They wouldn't have let him hurt you, but now it's too big of a risk for you and Sarah to stay there any longer." He paused and swallowed hard before he continued. "They'll explain everything to you, but you have to go with them."

~How much time do we have? We have to pack and I haven't finished the dishes and…~

Despite the heartache, Tim had to chuckle. Of everything that had happened and was going to happen, the one thing that his mother would never forgive was being forced to walk away from her former life with dirty dishes left in the sink. He looked up at Fornell, who was back on his phone with Walt Harrison, and nodded. "No, Mom. You're not going to pack and you're not going to worry about the dishes. You and Sarah are going to pick up your coats and your purses and walk out the door like you're on your way to the store. Wave at the neighbors like nothing is wrong and get in the car that is going to pull into the driveway."

Next to him, Fornell stayed on the phone with Harrison until the women were safely in his car and away from the house. Walt was using the speaker phone while he drove and Tobias could when Sarah took the cell phone from her mom.

~Tim, I don't understand. What is going on?~

"Dad was murdered, Sarah. We're going to get the people who did it, but I need you and Mom to be safe while we do it."

~What do you mean, murdered? Why? Who would want to kill him?~

"Sarah, there's no time. Just know that I love you both and that eventually it will be all right. Do what the Marshals tell you to do, no matter what, promise me that, okay?"

~Am I ever going to see you again?~

She was starting to cry, he could hear it in her voice, and it broke his heart. "I swear to you, we're going to get through this."

~Promise?~

"Have I ever lied to you? And telling you that worms taste like chocolate doesn't count." That made her laugh, despite the tears and he silently disconnected the call.

Fornell stayed on his phone with Walt until the other man had met up with the rest of his team. Giving a final thanks to his old friend he closed the last link between Tim McGee and his family.

Without a word, McGee returned to the computer and immersed himself in the hunt. He was still there when Thompson arrived from the lab. Hank noticed the somber mood immediately. Tobias took the files from him and handed them to Myers before tugging Thompson into the kitchen.

"What's happened, is the kid alright?"

Alright was a subjective term as they all knew and that fact was brought home as Fornell explained the mood. "It looks like Moore's people are getting suspicious. They made a run at McGee's family and we've had to move them into the witness protection program."

"Damn, how's the kid holding up?" Both men turned and watched McGee as Myers handed over the lab results. He immediately started laying out the pages, starting on the table but quickly moving to spread the sheets out on the floor. Intrigued, they came out to see what he was doing.

Myers was watching, but just shrugged his shoulders as the two older agents came into the room. "Haven't a clue, and he's just muttering names of chemical compounds."

"Where's Sacks?" At first Fornell assumed he was walking the dog, but Jethro was asleep under the table.

"McGee sent him out for highlighters. Don't know what for." Myers gave another shrug as he turned back to watch. Fornell exchanged a look with Thompson before dropping down to one knee next to Tim.

"What have you got?" He could see the complicated answer in McGee's eyes and interrupted before he could say a word. "Pretend you're talking to Gibbs, no geek-speak, no five dollar words, just the basic facts."

It was the right thing to say as a slight smile crossed McGee's face. "The lab results are coming in from the first round of bodies you exhumed. We need to see if there is any pattern to what drugs were used on them in comparison to where they were and when they died. Next, we need to match the drugs up to whatever legal testing was done and by what company. After that, we need to figure out some of these other compounds and what they could be used for and then start tracking the financial end of each transaction and…"

"Okay, I get the point. Just let me know when you find something." Once Sacks returned with the largest set of different highlighters Fornell had ever seen, McGee set up a color code and they all got to work marking the names of the victims with the information from the lab.

McGee was focused on his work and didn't notice the quiet conversations behind him. Fornell quietly slipped out as the others continued to work. Even when they had gone through all the results available to them, McGee continued to stare at the pages on the wall. "There's a pattern here, I know there is. We just don't have enough results to show it yet."

Sacks checked his watch before stepping up to McGee and taking the marker from his hand. "We're not going to get any more results until tomorrow; it's time to take a break. We're going to go get some food."

"You guys go ahead." McGee turned back to his contemplation of the wall as Sacks picked up both of their coats.

"Not open to discussion." He steered McGee to the door. "How can you ever get a fresh perspective on something if you never take a break from it. Hank and Jason will be here if any new information comes in."

They drove for a good twenty minutes before stopping in front of a small bungalow with an immaculate garden and white picket fence. Another car pulled up behind them and Emily jumped out of it and rushed to them.

"Uncle Tim, Uncle Tim!" She bounced impatiently as he got out of the car, not waiting until he was fully upright before launching herself at him. "I'm so glad you're here. Daddy says I can practice my science fair presentation for you and Mama Sacks tonight after dinner. It has to be perfect before I slaughter Bobby Martin and his stupid volcano that he didn't even make."

Tim couldn't help but laugh as he gave her a hug before setting her back on the ground. Holding onto his hand, she happily skipped into the house. Behind them the two other men plastered on smiles before walking through the door. Their hostess sent Emily in to set the table while she checked McGee. After this round of poking and prodding, she pronounced him vastly improved, much to Tim's relief. As much good as her mustard plaster had done for him, he was glad not to relive the experience.

Of all the feasts she put on for her son's co-workers, Violet's chicken and dumplings was the most anticipated. As much for Tim's sake as Emily's the two FBI agents kept the conversation light as they each shared stories about their funniest arrest and Violet regaled them with tales from Ron's childhood. Taking pity on the embarrassed man, Tim countered with a recounting of his first science experiment and the hole it left in the kitchen floor.

Emily was enthralled by the story and Tobias began reviewing his homeowners insurance in his head. Smirking, Violet distracted the young girl with a request to see her presentation. McGee helped her fine tune the science while her honorary grandmother helped with the theatrics. By the third attempt, it was declared perfect by her audience and they all celebrated with chocolate cake.

The evening was a good diversion and it was close to midnight before Sacks and McGee returned to the safe house apartment. "Thanks, Ron. You were right, I needed the break. Your mom is quite a lady." An odd look passed across his face and Sacks reached out and touched his arm.

"You okay?"

"They've probably got them clear across the country by now." Tim turned to face out the passenger side window. "It sounds stupid, but for the first time in my life, I don't know where my mom is."