Since her watch was broken Kate did not know how long she had been in the basement. Could not be more than a couple of hours at the most. She had checked the walls, checked for a way out but the door she had found had been locked. Not that she had expected anything less. She had looked around but there were no tools she could use to open it with. She sat back down with a frustrated sigh. She wondered if David had called The Director like she had suggested. Hopefully the envelope had been found. She prayed that Abby had seen her signing. If not she was in trouble. She might have figured out where she was but if nobody saw what she had signed with her hands than that wouldn't matter.

Her thought's started focusing more on Abby, Tony and Tim. Perhaps they knew her secret by know. If they did she could only hope they would forgive her. They meant a lot to her and she couldn't stand to lose their friendships. She could very well imagine that if they gave her a hard time then Gibbs would probably give them hell for it. Gibbs. She banged the back of her head against the wall in frustration. Damn it, why this did have to happen? Why now? She wanted to scream at the top of her lungs. She laughed bitterly knowing it wouldn't help in anyway. She could only hope and pray that they would find her soon.

Where was David by the way? Perhaps it was a good sign that he wasn't there. What would she do when he came back? Perhaps she could appeal to him not to hurt her. After all, he didn't seem to want to cause her any harm. Part of her believed she could achieve that while the other part knew she had no chance. There was a movement and soon she heard footsteps outside the door. She stood up and held on to the wall. Was this it? She saw David come into view and then she noticed the gun he had in his hand.

"David?" She tried with a firm but shaky voice. "You don't have to do this."

"I have to. I just can't let you go."

He walked over to her and she could see he was still struggling with what he was going to do. "Why can't you? You are about to kill an NCIS agent." She watched as this seemed to be something he had not even considered until now. "I've told you about Gibbs. Tony. Tim. Heck, I've told you about all of them. If you kill me then you can be sure they will keep going until they can connect someone to the murders and when they do discover it's you… Let's just say I wouldn't want to be in your shoes then."

He turned away from her and started pacing. "They won't discover what I have done. I managed to cover my tracks so far."

"Apparently not good enough since that man found out you killed Sam and Ruby."

"I made a mistake. It's been covered up now."

"And now you are about to make another one. David, look at me." When he refused she yelled at him. "Look at me, David." Slowly he turned and looked at her. "Do not do this!"

"I have to Kate."

Slowly and with a shaking hand he raised his gun towards her head. Kate had to keep from smiling at that. Perhaps all wasn't lost.

"Jimmy, are you in here?

"Yeah, what's going on Abby?" Jimmy Palmer was drying his hands in a towel as he came to stand in front of Abby.

"We got a DVD with Kate on it and she said some things. Basically it was a goodbye sort of thing. Now none of us believe that since right now Gibbs, Tony, Tim and Ducky are heading towards where she is and soon she will be back here safe and sound." She ended with a tight smile and clasped her hands together.

"Let's hope so." He threw the towel on a table. When Abby just stood there he figured he should press on. "Was there something else?"

"Oh, right." Suddenly Abby's hands were unclasped and waving wildly about. "Well she said some things to each of us. She also said something she wanted Ducky to tell you but since Ducky is with the rescue team I am here to tell you what Ducky was going to say. I mean it's not from Ducky since it's really from Kate but…."

Agent Todd had said something that was meant for him? "Abby." Jimmy really liked Abby but sometimes she could be a little much.

Like a switch she was now all serious again. "Kate wanted you to know that she really respects you. She wants you to stop second guessing yourself. You are too smart for that. That you'd see that if you just gave yourself the chance." She waited for a few seconds to let him take it all in. "And you know what, she is right."

Jimmy smiled at her. He knew these were things he had to work on but he didn't think that someone besides Dr. Mallard would have noticed. "Thanks Abby." He should have known better.

Abby patted his back with one of her hands. "Thank Kate. Once they get her back here."

"I will."

….

With no light anywhere it was near dark as two cars came to a screeching halt. Right away Gibbs made his way out and over to the other car. As he did Tony just thanked God they were still alive with the way Gibbs was driving. He could understand his boss being worried though. He was not exactly calm himself. He was quickly out of the car and took in the scene. One abandoned house. Abby had told them that Kate had signed Misfit Mansion and soon Abby told them where this was located. It was called 'Misfit Mansion' because of all with parties that used to have taken place there. There was nothing more around the house except some very large trees. It didn't look like anyone had been there in years.

Tim was had gotten out of the van and walked towards his boss.

Gibbs nodded to Tim and yelled over McGee's shoulder. "Ducky you stay in the car until we have Kate!"

Tony saw no signs of life. There was a slight wind going through and it made the trees sway ever so slightly. He looked back and soon both Gibbs and McGee were beside him.

Gibbs checked his SIG. "This is how we do this…."

David held the gun to her head trying to still him from shaking so much. Then he broke out in laughter and lowered his gun. As he kept laughing Kate eyed him suspiciously. What the hell was going on with this guy? Seeing her moment she proceeded to place a well-placed kick to one of his knees knocking him to the ground. As he went down she sprinted towards the door. She yanked it open. He had not even bothered to lock it. She ran up the basement stairs. Upstairs it took only a moment to see the front door at the end of the hall. She hurried towards it but as she soon tried to reach for the door handle she felt David grabbing her. The both fell forward opening the front door as both went down on the porch.

Gibbs, Tony and Tim's heads whipped around at the sound. They saw Kate down and an unknown man on top of her. As if on cue all three of them raised their SIG's trying to get a good aim.

Kate felt her head being yanked up and this time there was no gun. Now there was a knife dangerously close to her throat.

"Thought I'd forget how to kill you properly?" He hissed in her ear as he dragged her up with him.

"NCIS!" Gibbs yelled as he kept his gun focused on the man who held Kate.

Kate could feel David freeze at that moment and her hands flew up trying to get the knife away from her. She saw Gibbs and smiled. "Told you didn't I David?" She said between breaths.

David cursed in her hair but kept the knife close to her throat. "This isn't over yet."

"Kate, you ok?" Gibbs felt incredible relived at seeing her but that knife close to her throat worried him.

"So far so good." That earned Kate a closer feel of the knife to her throat. She could feel the cold blade on her skin and she winced.

Gibbs tightened his grip on his gun.

Tony took a step closer but halted when David saw him. "Let her go. There is no way you can win this one."

"Tony!" Gibbs growled over his shoulder. He had a felling this man didn't care about what his chances were and quite possibly Tony could just have made things worse. The fact that the man didn't say anything but just kept watching them unnerved Gibbs.

Tim kept his aim steady. He couldn't get a good shot without hitting Kate. It frustrated him to no end.

The blade seemed to cut deeper into her throat and she tried to use her hands to remove his arm but he was strong.

He saw it. Blood was dripping from the knife and Gibbs wished nothing more than to kill this man right now. He saw Kate drop one a hand and that hand tried to desperately but subtle to catch his attention. Raising an eyebrow he reluctantly followed her hand with his gaze. She was signing again.

Tony saw the hand gesture but had no idea what she was saying. Once they got Kate safely out and they would he was going to take time to learn sign language.

Tim thought he had interpreted it wrong. Surely that was not what she was signing. He knew a little but he had to be wrong this time.

"David, give it up. Killing me in front of them is only going to make this worse." Kate's hoarse voice tried to reason with him. Getting no reaction she once again signed to Gibbs hoping he would do as she asked.

She couldn't be serious. Again, she signed. 'Shoot me'. He watched as her hand pointed to the side of her lower stomach as if indicating he could shoot her there. He looked up at her and shook his head. There was no way he was going to shoot her.

Kate rolled her eyes. "Gibbs! Trust me! He is human!" She shouted startling David who pulled at her hair harder.

The determination on her voice did it. Gibbs lowered his gun, aimed and fired. He watched as Kate was hit and he bit his bottom lip regretting it immediately.

"What the hell Boss?" Tony yelled.

Tim realized he hadn't been wrong. Kate had signed 'shoot me'.

Kate and David staggered backwards hitting the wall. She heard him grunt and she realized he had been hit. The bullet had gone right through her just as she had hoped. It wasn't enough though as he tried to steady himself and the knife seemed to cut deeper into her throat. "Again, do it again."

Tony couldn't understand what the hell was going on her. Was Kate asking Gibbs to shoot her? Had she lost her mind?

Gibbs blinked but could only see the blood that was now seeping through Kate's shirt.

"AGAIN!"

Gibbs took another aim and fired again hitting Kate one more time. This time he watched as they both tumbled down on to the porch. Kate hit the wood first and the man landed right next to her. He ran as fast as he could towards them and as soon as he was next to Kate he gently rolled her over to her back. "Kate?"

"ARGH!" David moved and raised his hand holding the knife. Gibbs raised his gun at the same time all while he had the other hand under Kate's head and shot David right between the eyes.

Tony and Tim joined them anxiously wondering what was going on.

"Kate?" Gibbs tilted her head slightly. When she didn't respond he started to feel like he was going to lose it. "Kate?"

Ducky came up behind them and made his way through Tony and Tim. He kneeled down beside Kate.

Gibbs looked up at his friend. "She told me to shoot her." He lowered his head to look at Kate again. "Oh God, what have I done?"

Gibbs' voice sounded like nothing Tony, Tim or even Ducky had ever heard before.

"Caitlin?" Ducky gently tilted her head. "Caitlin?" He looked at her small wound on her throat.

Kate opened her eyes slowly. She would never get used to this kind of pain. This was going faster than she had predicted. "Sleep." It was all she could muster as she closed her eyes again.

Gibbs had been so relieved to see her opening her eyes. Now he felt that hopeless feeling again as she had closed them just as quickly.

Ducky checked her pulse and found that it was fading away. He knew better this time though. "Ok, let's get her home boys." He stood up and made his way over to the cars.

Gibbs didn't let go of her head. With his other hand he repeated what Ducky had just done. There was no pulse. He took a hold of her hand. No pulse. "There is no pulse." He choked out. "There is no pulse." He yelled so that Ducky would hear.

Ducky turned and simply shook his head as he walked back towards the three men.

"You.. you killed her?" Tony could barely get the words out. He grabbed Gibbs by the collar and made the older man stand up. "You killed her!"

Knowing all too well what Kate had signed Tim tried to calm his friend. "Tony, take it easy."

"Easy, Probie? He just killed Kate and you tell me to take it easy?"

Gibbs didn't do anything to defend himself. If Tony was right then he had absolutely no right to defend himself.

Tony clenched his hand into a fist and punched his boss as hard as he could. The older man fell back on the wood and landed next to Kate. As Tony got ready to continue his assault both Tim and Ducky firmly took a hold of Tony's arms. "Let me go!" As the two men did just that Tony walked away knowing he couldn't stand to look at Gibbs anymore.

Gibbs tried to sit up ignoring the ache from his nose or the taste of blood. "Ducky, please tell me he is wrong? Tell me I didn't just kill Kate?"