A/N – Thank you so much for the continued support on this. It's very frustrating to me that I'm taking so much time in between updates. It's not my usual style at all, but my life isn't my own at the moment. I do promise I will finish, just not quite sure when so thank you for your patience.

Disclaimer in Chapter 1

Chapter 7

Saturday 21st January

It was 3.45am when the combined forces of the FBI and Callen's team surrounded Conrad's house. The moon and stars were clear in the sky.

The team had split up to work with the FBI personnel. Callen and Sam with one team and Kensi had joined with Derek on another. Other teams had the obvious exits of the property covered and a helicopter was on standby with in-fared sensor equipment should someone take off in an unexpected direction.

Hetty had obviously called in every favour and, Callen was sure she had probably promised more, because this was way more muscle and firepower than a standard kidnapping would warrant. He also had no doubt Hetty would feel every one of those favours was worth it, whether or not this was the right place.

They progressed through the house quietly, checking the ground floor thoroughly before moving up the stairs to the second floor. There was a loud creak on the stairs followed by the sound of someone's response above. Picking up the pace, the teams moved quickly and turned the hallway light on before anyone could get out of their rooms.

A tall man, with a slight familiarity to him, stepped out of the bedroom nearest the top of the stairs.

"Who –" he started to ask.

Sam interrupted sharply. "Federal agents." He handed over the search warrant to the man he was fairly certain was Conrad. "We're here to search the premises for Tabitha Lachlan," Sam continued.

"Tabitha is missing," Conrad replied with a frown after quickly perusing the warrant. He looked at Sam. "She's not here."

By now Conrad's wife had joined themin the hall, as had two children who had popped their heads out the door of their bedrooms. A girl and a boy. The girl looked about fourteen, the boy twelve, both with very similar features to the mother. Callen noticed a slightly fearful expression on the young girl's face. Unconsciously he moved slightly in her direction, almost as if to protect her. He'd wonder about that later.

"We have reason to believe that she is, Conrad," Derek added.

"You have no right to disturb us in the middle of the night," the wife said firmly.

"They do, Fiona," Conrad held out the search warrant. She ignored it as she moved closer to the stairs and peered down, possibly to check if there were more unwelcome visitors around. She turned back to them. "My husband has told you she isn't here. How dare you wake us up for this nonsense."

"That is enough," Fornell ordered. "If she's not here you have nothing to worry about. We'll be as quick as we can." Fornell looked at Conrad. "Mr Lachlan, could you please show us the way to the attic."

Alyssa had been able to fill them in on the general layout of the house and if someone was being kept in it secretly, the attic was the most logical place as there was no basement. Conrad nodded co-operatively and started to move down the hall away from the stairs. The daughter stepped out of her room and grabbed her father's hand when he was next to her.

"Daddy," she said tentatively. She glanced at her mother and Callen noticed the fear in her expression escalate.

"What is it Caroline?" Conrad asked.

Caroline swallowed and took in a breath. "I saw Mum take some food to the garage earlier. I followed her and … thought I heard Tabby."

Callen spun around to Fiona but she had already disappeared without them noticing.

"Where's the garage?" Callen demanded, his feet already taking him down the stairs two at a time. Conrad called out the directions and Callen broke into a run at the bottom of the stairs, slamming open the front door, almost breaking it off its hinges in his rush.

Sam, Kensi and Derek were only steps behind through the door and caught up easily. Callen heard Fornell inform the other teams of the change in the situation and urged them to stay sharp. Given that Fornell's voice wasn't far behind, Callen realised that the older agent could still move it since he was keeping up with them.

Callen made it to the garage just in time to see Fiona pull down a ladder to the roof space.

"Freeze!" Callen demanded.

Fiona spun around and it was only then, as she lifted it, that they realised she was armed. She fired wildly in their direction but agent training and instincts had them taking cover quickly and no one was injured.

Callen responded quickly and accurately, firing back before she could take more than one step up the ladder again. Fiona fell to the floor with a resounding thud which sent the rest of the team back into action. Sam and Kensi covered Fiona and checked on her. Derek and Callen ascended the ladder quickly.

Callen flashed his light around the roof space in a searching pattern. His heart thudding so hard in his chest he felt like it was about to break out. He spun toward a whimpering sound he could hear coming from a far corner.

"Tabby?" he called out. But before he could move any closer, a small object hurtled toward and slammed into him – a small whimpering object that clung tightly to his legs. He didn't need a light to know who it was. As little time as he had spent with them, one thing he probably would never forget is what Tabby's arms felt like around him.

"G," Tabby whispered on a sob. Callen dropped the light and picked her up, her legs wrapped around him, her head rested on his shoulder and her arms held on tight.

"It's okay Tabby, we're here," Callen said softly near her ear. He stroked her back reassuringly and blinked back the tears of relief that were surprisingly pushing against the backs of his eyes.

Callen felt Derek come up close behind. "Hey little monkey," Derek said with a relieved smile that was obvious in his tone, "You're safe now."

"Uncle Derek?" Tabby raised her head just a little.

"Yep."

Tabby shuddered and held Callen even tighter. "Mummy's dead."

Callen froze. "What did you say?"

"Aunt Fiona told me that Mummy had died. That I'd be living with them from now on."

Callen heard Derek make an indecipherable noise – at least to Tabby it would be. To him, it was exactly what he wanted to make. One of pure rage at what this precious little girl had been put through. She'd already lost one mother, how could someone be so cruel as to put her through it again when it wasn't true. Callen tightened one arm around her and used the other hand to get Tabby to look at him.

"Tabby," he said. "Listen carefully. I have never lied to you." He caught her gaze with his and his heart ached at the pain he saw in her little face. "And I am not going to start now. Ally is fine. She's been worried about you, missed you and is very sad without you. She is not dead."

Tabby frowned. "But –" She glanced at Derek as he spoke.

"Callen's right, Tabby. Your mum is fine. And it's about time we got you two back together. Are you ready to go home?"

Tabby nodded and dropped her head back on Callen's shoulder, obviously not about to let go of him. Thankfully the ladder was more like a set of stairs so Callen didn't need to. Derek proceeded down before them though to help ensure their safety.

"Tabby," Callen said before he started the descent, "I need you to close your eyes and not open them until I tell you." He had a feeling that Fiona was still near the bottom of the ladder and probably wouldn't be moving anytime soon. He'd taken no risk when he'd fired. Fiona wasn't getting anywhere near Tabby again.

"Okay," she agreed softly. Callen couldn't help the small smile that formed on his lips at how much she trusted him. He was amazed that something so small like that made him feel like he could take on the world – and win.

He held her tight and safe and it wasn't until they were back at the main house that he told Tabby to open her eyes. He was just about to put her in the car to take her home when Conrad came out and moved over to them.

Callen's eyes narrowed. Conrad stopped at the look and didn't come any closer.

"I know you have no reason to believe this," Conrad said in a gentle but loud enough voice to reach them, "but I did not know what she had done." He looked at Tabby and crouched down on one knee so she could see him better.

"Tabitha …. Tabby. I'm sorry for what she did to you. Please, believe me that I didn't know."

Tabby clutched Callen's hand and nodded. "Okay," she answered quietly.

Callen nodded to Conrad as well, the tension leaving him a little. He could hear the sincerity in Conrad's voice and could see the shock that was on his face at what had happened here tonight.

Sam and Kensi joined him by the car.

"You ready to go?" Sam asked. "We should get these two girls of yours back together."

"I'm ready," Callen agreed.

He turned to Kensi. "Kenz, keep an eye on the kids. I'll send Nate over as soon as he's checked Tabby." He was more worried about the girl, Caroline, given what had transpired in the garage after her confession.

Kensi nodded.

"I'll drive," Sam said, not that he really needed to say it. It was obvious Callen was going to be next to Tabby all the way.

Derek turned to Callen. "I'm trusting you to get her home and back to Ally," Derek said. "I'm going to stay and help Fornell wrap this up. Make sure… everything's taken care of."

Callen nodded. They still had the issue of whoever had actually taken Tabby to figure out. Fiona may have been involved but she wasn't the one to take Tabby from the school excursion. Callen crouched down and looked at Tabby. He gently ran a hand over her arm in comfort and reassurance.

"Tabby. What can you tell me about what happened?" Callen asked. "Just quickly. We'll talk more later but is there anything that might help us –"

"Find the police officer?" Tabby said.

"Yeah," Callen nodded.

Tabby shrugged. "I've never seen him before. He dark hair and was tall. I don't know about his eyes, he wore glasses. He told me Mummy had died in a car accident then brought me here. Aunt Fiona was alone and she took me into the garage. Told me that I needed to fix my behaviour before she would let me near Caroline and Fred. I was scared; I didn't know what to do." Her voice broke a little toward the end.

"Shh. " Callen stroked her hair and she moved in closer. "It's over now."

Sam hopped into the driver's seat and Callen settled Tabby in the back. She stayed nice and close to him.

"You're sure she's-"

Callen nodded. "She's alive, Tabby. I promise you."

Tabby snuggled deeper into him and he couldn't help another smile. They were halfway home when Callen's phone rang. He answered quietly. Tabby had been quite still for about five minutes and he had a feeling she just might have fallen asleep, though he couldn't see her face to be sure.

"Callen," he answered.

"Callen, where are you?" Hetty asked.

"On our way home with Tabby."

"Thank heavens. However, come directly to the hospital," she said. "There's been a … development."