Chapter Eleven: Daddy!

"Where gowin?" LJ asked as he looked out the window of the car. They'd been driving for a long time. It was starting to get dark out.

"To Vegas to find Greg," Lisa answered.

"No!" LJ whined. He didn't want to go back to Greg. "Daddy. Daddy!"

Lisa tried to shush him but the combination of the long drive, no nap, a wet and messy diaper and nothing to eat was too much for the little boy to handle.

"LJ, please stop," Lisa begged. "Don't cry."

"I need Daddy!" LJ screamed, not letting up at all.

Lisa pulled off at the next rest stop, hoping a little fresh air would help settle the boy. It would be nice to stretch their legs before driving through Indianapolis. She and LJ walked around the paths and searched the sky for the first star. Lisa pointed out the man in the moon and watched out of the corner of her eye as a car pulled in and parked next to hers. When a young mother got out and helped her two little ones out of the backseat, Lisa decided to take a chance.

She waited for the woman to go into the bathroom then picked up a calmer LJ and headed back over to the car. She peeked into the woman's car and smiled when she saw the keys in the cup holder.

"Time to go, buddy," she said as she strapped LJ into one of the car seats, something the car they'd been travelling in didn't have. "The sooner we get back on the road, the sooner we'll get where we're headed."

She hurried around the car and slipped into the driver's seat, smiling even bigger when she saw the woman's purse tucked under the seat. The small amount of money she'd found in the last car had all been spent on gas. Hopefully this woman kept cash in her purse. She turned the car on, backed out of the parking spot and continued on her way.

Gibbs sat slouched over on the couch in the early hours of Thursday morning. The TV flickered as the news anchor reported what had happened during the overnight hours while most people had been asleep. A scrolling marquee ran across the bottom of the screen with all LJ's information and a phone number to call with any information. In addition to the marquee, a breaking news report had interrupted regular programming at random intervals all throughout the night with LJ and Lisa's pictures and information. The whole thing seemed surreal to Gibbs. He'd never expected to see his boy's picture on the news. It made him feel sick. It was happening again. First Kelly and now LJ. Maybe he wasn't father material.

Tony made his way into the living room, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and yawning. It was way too early to be up, even on a work day. He frowned when he saw the almost zombie-like state Gibbs was in.

"You haven't been to bed yet, have you, Boss?" he asked as he turned the TV off. "You're gonna drive yourself crazy watching this stuff all the time."

Gibbs closed his eyes and dropped his head back against the couch. He knew Tony was right but at the same time he hadn't been able to bring himself to turn the TV off, almost as if he were completely dependent on that perceived connection to LJ.

Tony made his way into the kitchen and brewed a pot of coffee then poured a cup for Gibbs and cup for himself before returning to the living room. He tried to figure out what to say but nothing sounded right. 'Everything will be okay' seemed condescending. 'We'll get him back' didn't seem appropriate when they both knew he couldn't make that promise. There really wasn't anything he could say. He hoped just being there would help Gibbs in some way.

"Do you think LJ's okay?"

"I don't know," Gibbs answered quietly.

"Would she hurt him?" Tony asked cautiously. "I mean, for her to all of a sudden abandon her kids and then break out of jail and kidnap one of them… seems like she's not in her right mind."

"I think she's been on the verge of 'not in her right mind' ever since her mother died," Gibbs replied. "When Sadie had that seizure I think Lisa was afraid she was gonna lose somebody else she loved and she snapped when she couldn't deal with it. Will she hurt LJ? Not on purpose but she has no money for food or diapers, no home, no place to go, no one to turn to."

Their conversation was interrupted by one of the little ones crying into the baby monitor. It had been a long night for both kids. LJ wasn't there and Daddy was upset and they didn't know what to make of the situation.

"Do you want me to go check on 'em?" Tony asked.

"No, I'll do it," Gibbs said.

Tony turned the TV back on after Gibbs had gone upstairs, just in time to catch one of the breaking news reports. "Where are you, buddy?" he asked the picture on the screen. He wondered briefly if Lisa had changed the boy's appearance. Had his blonde hair been covered up by brown or black? He hoped not. LJ was a cutie and just perfect like he was. And with those bright blue eyes, somebody had to recognize the kid. There weren't a lot of kids with hair that blonde and eyes that blue.

Gibbs returned with both little ones and Tony flipped the TV off. Gibbs sat down next to Tony and Tony took Sadie while Mason snuggled deeper into his father's embrace. It was time for more hugs and kisses and reassuring the kids that everything would be okay.

Gregory Pruitt found himself sitting in an interrogation room for the second time in a week and was not at all happy about it, especially considering he hadn't done anything wrong that time. What did the FBI want with him? He tapped his fingernail against the cup of now cold coffee while he waited. When he neared the point of not being able to take it any longer, the door opened and a balding agent entered.

"Mr. Pruitt, I'm Agent Fornell."

"Mind tellin' me what this is about?" Pruitt's tone didn't hide his impatience.

Fornell pulled out a picture of Lisa and laid it on the table in front of the man.

"That's Lisa."

"Heard from her?"

"Nah. We split ways a few days ago. Haven't seen or heard from her since. I thought she was in jail."

"Have you seen the news in the past twelve hours?" Fornell asked. How did this guy not now about Lisa and LJ?

"No. I met someone at the casino last night," Pruitt answered. "She took me home. We've been in bed ever since. What's going on? Did Lisa escape or something?"

"Yeah, she escaped, kidnapped her son and now she's in the wind."

"How do you kidnap your own kid?" Pruitt asked with a laugh.

"She gave up custody when she abandoned him," Fornell explained. "Come on, Greg. She's got no money, no home, no means to take care of a toddler. Help me out here."

"I would if I could but I haven't seen or heard from her!" Greg insisted. "I don't know nothin' about no kidnapped kid or runaway prisoner or nothing!"

"If I find out you're lying to me, I'll have you charged with aiding and abetting and if anything happens to that kid, you'll be looking at a manslaughter charge."

Thirty two year old Blake Garner was headed from his small farm in Oklahoma into town to get some supplies when he passed a car with its blinkers flashing. He didn't think twice about pulling his full size pickup truck onto the shoulder of the road to offer his assistance. That was what they did in Oklahoma, they helped people out. There was a little boy in the backseat, wide awake and very upset. The woman in the front seat was sleeping the early morning hours away, although how she could sleep through the boy's crying was a mystery.

Blake knocked on the window, wondering if she was okay. She didn't even budge. Maybe she wasn't just sleeping. He opened the front door and was immediately overwhelmed by the smell. The kid obviously had a dirty diaper which was probably one of the reasons he was so upset.

"Ma'am?" Blake said. Still nothing. "Ma'am?" he asked a little louder, poking her shoulder.

Lisa gasped in fear at being startled awake. She stared at the stranger, trying to figure out what he wanted.

"Everything okay?" Blake asked.

"Who are you?" Lisa asked. She had to make sure she wasn't talking to a cop.

"I'm Blake. I own a ranch 'bout fifty miles down the road. Saw your four ways on and thought I'd stop to see if you needed help."

Lisa turned around to make sure LJ was still in the backseat then faced the cowboy again. "My car ran out of gas." That wasn't a lie. The damn tolls in Oklahoma were outrageous and had depleted the little bit of money she'd found in the purse. She'd decided to take back roads to avoid any more tolls and ended up running out of gas. Her luck had obviously run out.

"I could give you a lift to the gas station," Blake offered.

"Um, it's a little more complicated than that," Lisa said as she concocted a story in her head. "See, my husband gets real mad sometimes and it was okay when it was just me but I didn't want him to hurt our son." She motioned to LJ in the backseat. "I had to get him outta of there. It wasn't safe. I can't take any money out of our account or he'll be able to track me down. He'll probably kill us both if that happens."

"Well, where ya headed?" Blake asked.

"I don't know," Lisa said working up a few worried tears for show. "I was just trying to get as far away as I could."

"He'd never find ya on my farm," Blake said. "You guys could stay with me for a bit."

"Really?" Lisa asked. That was just what she'd been hoping for. "I don't wanna put you out. I could work, earn my keep. I cook and clean and I'm good with animals."

"Sure," Blake said.

"Thank you. Thank you so much!"

"Mason was named after you," Gibbs confessed quietly as the boy slept on his chest and Sadie slept on Tony's, "his middle name."

"Lisa knew who I was?" Tony asked.

"No, I guess I talked about you enough that she figured out how important you were to me," Gibbs said.

Tony looked over at Gibbs and smiled.

"Don't let it go to your head," Gibbs said with a wink.

"Never thought anybody would be named after me," Tony said. "Maybe we should start calling him by his middle name."

Gibbs gave him a look that dashed his hopes.

"I was just kidding. That's pretty cool. Who's Sadie named after?"

"Her middle name's Josephine. That was Lisa's mother's name. I don't know where the name Sadie came from, or Mason."

"Have you called Jack yet?" Tony asked.

Gibbs shook his head. "Wednesday's bingo night. Dad's a night owl. He usually goes out for pie after bingo and doesn't come home till he's ready to crash into bed." He looked at his watch. It was just after 6:00. "I guess I should call him now."

"I'll hold Mason."

After handing Mason off, Gibbs made his way into the kitchen for a little privacy. He knew his dad would be awake. Jack was the one who'd taught him the 'you can sleep when you're dead' mantra—Jack and the Marine Corps. He took a deep breath before picking up the phone and dialing his father's number.

"Hello."

"Hi Dad."

"Good morning, Son. Why the early morning phone call?"

Gibbs was quiet for a moment, not really wanting to tell his dad what had happened but he knew he had to. "LJ's gone, kidnapped."

"What?!"

"Lisa escaped. We're pretty sure she has him."

"When? How?"

"They were playing at the park with Allie yesterday."

"I'm coming back," Jack said. "I'll be there later today, as soon as I can."

"Dad—" Gibbs stopped short of telling his father not to come when he realized he really wanted the man there, "thank you."

"Uh-huh," Jack said. "See you soon, Leroy."

After hanging up with his father, Gibbs dialed Fornell's number. He needed an update, even if it was just something small.

"Surprised it took you this long," came the tired voice on the other end of the phone.

"Whadda ya got?" Gibbs asked.

"Metro received video of Lisa stealing a car yesterday morning before she snatched LJ. LoJack put the car at a rest stop on this side of Indianapolis. Police reports indicate another stolen car at the same rest stop last night. We've got a nationwide BOLO out on it but no hits yet. Lisa and LJ's pictures will be on every news station across America this morning. Any idea where she might be headed?"

"She doesn't have any family left. She's not much of a traveler. Her boyfriend was headed to Vegas. Maybe she went out there to meet up with him."

"I talked to Pruitt this morning. He's shacked up with another woman. Guess the trip to Vegas was cancelled."

"Lisa would have no way of knowing that," Gibbs pointed out.

"I'll call the police out there and let them know she might be headed their way. How are you holding up?"

"I dunno," Gibbs said. "Mason and Sadie are having a hard time. I'm trying to focus on them so I don't have too much time to think about what LJ might be going through."

"We'll find them, Jethro," Fornell said. "Based on everything I've learned, Lisa's not the criminal mastermind type who'll end up being good at hiding from us."

"Yeah," Gibbs said quietly. He hoped that was the case. "Keep me in the loop, will ya?"

"Of course."

After spending the morning shopping for his animals and his unexpected houseguests, Blake got back in his pickup and headed back towards his farm. As soon as they got out of town, Lisa stopped looking over her shoulder and fell asleep. After driving nearly twenty hours and spending all night the night before plotting and planning and watching for cops she was exhausted.

Blake looked in his rearview mirror and smiled at LJ. The boy had been cleaned up, changed and fed and now instead of crying because of being uncomfortable, he was crying for his daddy. The cowboy couldn't help but feel sorry for the little guy. The boy didn't know his mother had taken him away from his daddy to protect him. He could tell Lisa was getting frustrated with the constant crying so he decided to try to help.

"It's okay, little guy," he said. "We're gonna go somewhere fun. Do you like animals?"

"Daddy," LJ wailed.

"I have a couple horses, a few cows and some dogs and cats, several chickens and a stubborn old goat. He's a mean old thing though. You don't wanna try to play with him. Do you know the Old MacDonald song? Maybe you can help me sing it and make some fun animal noises."

The rest of the long trip was spent singing the song and looking out the window. LJ's focus momentarily shifted from his daddy to making fun animal noises and checking out his new surroundings. He'd never seen so much wide open space in his life. His excitement level escalated every time they passed a field full of cattle or horses.

When they arrived back at the farm over an hour after leaving town, LJ had finally calmed down. Blake gave them a tour of his surprisingly large ranch house before heading out to take care of his animals. Lisa turned to LJ and smiled.

"What do you think, baby? I think we're gonna be happy here and Blake seems like a really nice guy."

LJ looked around the room and saw none of his toys, no Daddy or Grandpa, no Mason or Sadie or Dash, no Tony, Abby, Tim or Ziva, nothing familiar and decided this was not where he wanted to be. He looked up at his mommy and puffed his lip out as his eyes filled with tears again. "I wan Daddy!"